Franklin Lakes June 8, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 9 June 11 opening scheduled for nature preserve by Frank J. McMahon The Franklin Lakes Nature Preserve, a 143-acre site dedicated to hiking, fishing, and birding, will be officially opened to the public at a ceremony to be held Saturday, June 11, at 10 a.m. In the event of rain, the opening ceremony will be held June 12 at 10 a.m. The opening ceremony is a public event, and will be held at the entrance to the nature preserve located on High Mountain Road in North Haledon, just south of the Franklin Lakes border. The ceremony will include a ribbon cutting, and all the attendees will have an opportunity to tour the site. Based on the recommendations of the borough’s Franklin Lakes Nature Preserve Advisory Committee, the preserve will be a passive recreation area and will feature hiking paths, a small picnic grove in a stand of pine trees, fishing, and scenic views. It will also attract birders since native birds frequent the forested area behind the former reservoir. According to information confirmed by Franklin Lakes Borough Administrator Gregory Hart, the borough agreed to purchase the nature preserve, formerly known as the Haledon Reservoir, on May 24, 2005 from the Borough of Haledon. The property originally contained 149 acres, but a 5.3-acre portion of the site was removed from the purchase as it is owned by the High Mountain Golf Course. The total acquisition cost of $6.6 million was subsidized by a $2.9 million grant from the Green Acres Division of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and a $2 million grant from the Bergen County Open Space Preservation Trust Fund. The borough bonded $1.6 million plus an additional $100,000 that was later authorized for various miscellaneous expenses. Prior to the closing of the purchase of the property in August 2006, the Borough of Haledon agreed to provide $350,000 to cover the cost of cleaning up the property. That amount was deducted from the purchase price at the closing. Thus far, Green Acres has provided $2.3 million of its $2.9 grant to the borough and recently approved an additional $450,000 to be paid to the borough. Hart said the borough will apply for the remaining $150,000 as soon as a new grant round is announced by the Green Acres Division. The NJDEP requires that property acquired with Green Acres funding must be open to the public and that all New Jersey residents must be afforded reasonable access to it. Hart advised that, since the land was acquired, the borough has been working toward this public opening and a lot of work has been done on the property to make the site safe and secure. Projects have included environmental remediation of the old Haledon Department of Public Works site, the improvement of the lower dam roadway, the installation of fencing on Ewing Avenue and High Mountain Road, and the improvement of drainage on the access road and on the walking paths. The borough began remediating and improving the property environmentally in early 2007. Work included the demolition of a building on the site, the repair of dam valves and the dam’s electrical system, the location of emergency boat landings, and the stabilization of buildings on the site by importing soil or a contractor mix, and the installation of fencing on part of the property to eliminate encroachment onto the site by adjacent property owners. Most of the cost of this remediation was funded by the escrow monies provided by Haledon. In 2008, an advisory committee made recommendations to the borough council about how the reservoir property might be used. The committee recommended a passive recreation site that would serve as a model for preserving nature and ecology. The committee recommended low-cost uses for the site, including a marked nature trail for hiking within the nature preserve, fishing in the lake with a New Jersey fishing license, and areas for birding/wildlife viewing without permits or fees. The committee also recommended changing the name of the site at that time from Haledon Reservoir to Franklin Lakes Nature Preserve. Hart advised that the borough has done a lot of work to improve and stabilize the lower dam roadway. Recently, the council awarded contracts for the purchase of picnic tables, trash and recycling containers for the site, and for the removal of 550 feet of existing fencing and the installation of 1,215 feet of five-foot high chain link fence with gates. The new fence was installed along Ewing Avenue and into the woods and along High Mountain Road to an existing fence on the Vander Plaat Funeral Home property, and then on to the upper dam and across that dam to the fence on the other side. The fencing is intended to prevent parking on Ewing Avenue and High Mountain Road for safety reasons, and to direct motorists to the parking lot provided for visitors to the nature preserve. According to Hart, the cost of the picnic tables, the trash/recycling containers, and the fence will be covered by a Bergen County Open Space grant together with matching funds through the state’s Clean Communities grants and borough funds that were previously appropriated. The Franklin Lakes Environmental Commission recently held a cleanup at the nature preserve. Fifty volunteers participated in the effort and brought out 127 bags of debris, 14 old tires, a rusted water heater, a car fender, and bundles of plastic lawn edging.