The Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space have announced the preservation of 28-acre tract of forest in the Mount Rose Ridge.
The property, located off of Cleveland Road, expands upon the 387-acre Mount Rose Preserve, creating a total of 415 acres of contiguous permanently preserved open space in Hopewell Valley.
The heart of the Mount Rose Preserve was purchased by New Jersey Conservation Foundation, FoHVOS, Hopewell Township and Mercer County in 2015. Preservation partners have continued to grow and expand the public preserve since then.
The Giardino tract is entirely wooded; FoHVOS says that its includes forested wetlands and upland forest on a diabase ridge. The forest provides breeding habitat for songbirds, including veery and Northern parula, wetland forest vital to salamanders and frogs, and a safe harbor for rare plant species such as wild comfrey.
This preserve is also identified as Core Habitat by NJDEP’s CHANJ program. The CHANJ project, Connecting Habitats Across New Jersey, is aimed to conserve native wildlife populations by creating a statewide landscape of connected preserved lands; allowing for healthy reproduction and creating genetically strong wildlife populations.
“With over 40% of Hopewell Township preserved as open space, farmland, or recreation land, the Township Committee is committed to grow this number even further,” Hopewell Township Mayor Courtney Peters Manning said in a FoHVOS media release. “We are thankful to work with preservation partners like FoHVOS to make this happen. The addition of these 28 acres to the FoHVOS preserves is a huge benefit to the people and the environment of the Township. We are excited about this property and look forward to continuing to work with FoHVOS for many years to come.”
According to FoHVOS executive director Jenn Rogers, the cost of the acquisition was $400,000. FoHVOS applied for and received funding from NJDEP Green Acres, Mercer County Open Space Trust Fund and Hopewell Township to make this acquisition possible.
“I am proud to have initiated this acquisition for FoHVOS and thank the Giardino family for making it happen,” said Daniel Pace, FoHVOS trustee and chair of land preservation.
FoHVOS says that in the future, the land will be accessible for hiking, birdwatching and passive enjoyment by way of a foot trail that will connect to a proposed section of the Lawrence Hopewell Trail.
“In addition to being a preserve with excellent conservation quality, it too, will become a public asset for our community. My hope is that we will be able to create a permanently protected land connection from Mount Rose Preserve to Princeton’s Emerald Necklace in the future,” Rogers said.
