River
Walk farm in Pohatcong Township, Warren County,
has two proud new owners. More than 430 acres of
the 561-acre grain farm were successfully auctioned
back into private ownership as two separate farms
by the State Agriculture Development Committee
(SADC) today. Theodore M. Long of Somerville purchased
Farm A for $410,000. The property consists of approximately
232 acres, a family residence and a farm labor
house. Farm B, consisting of approximately 201
acres with the opportunity for construction of
a residential unit as limited by deed restrictions,
was sold to Gary and Michelle Hartung, whose family
formerly owned the farm and whose current homestead
is surrounded on three sides by this portion of
the property. This parcel sold for $450,000. Both
farms were auctioned as permanently deed-restricted
parcels to prohibit non-agricultural use with the
development rights on both properties held by the
SADC. The remaining 128 acres will be acquired
by the Phillipsburg Riverview Organization in cooperation
with the NJDEP/Green Acres for permanent preservation
and management as grassland bird habitat. Bordered
to the west and north by the Delaware River and
I-78, respectively, River Walk is an ecologically
sensitive agricultural area and provides habitat
for as least four grassland nesting bird species
which are on the state's threatened or endangered
species list. The preservation of these parcels
of land complements the farmland preservation efforts
of the Warren County Agriculture Development Board
and will increase the amount of preserved farmland
in the county by more than 20 percent. To date,
through the Farmland Preservation Program (FPP),
Warren County has preserved 19 farms totaling 3,266
acres. The picturesque River Walk Farm, which was
once slated for intense residential development,
is the largest single property acquired in fee
simple by the FPP. The farm's preservation was
a culmination of a unique cooperative effort by
federal, state, county, municipal and non-profit
organizations. The majority of the funding for
the fee simple purchase of the property came from
state farmland preservation bond funds and Green
Acres bond funds through the Phillipsburg Riverview
Organization (PRO), as well as contributions from
Warren County and Pohatcong Township. In addition,
the acquisition of River Walk marked the first
time federal Farmland Preservation Program funds
were used to help purchase a New Jersey farm in
its entirety. The $220,000 in federal funds was
made available through USDA's Natural Resources
Conservation Service under a program launched in
the federal Farm Bill of 1996. New Jersey's 1997
grant proposal received the highest ranking of
any tract proposed for inclusion in the federal
program in the Eastern Region.
Statewide,
the FPP has preserved 284 farms totaling 44,236
acres. |
