More farmland preserved in Hunterdon

Posted by Julie O'Connor

March 07, 2007 1:51PM

Categories: News

DELAWARE TOWNSHIP -- An additional 35 acres of farmland has been added to the Wickecheoke Creek Preserve in Hunterdon County by the New Jersey Conservation Foundation (NJCF).

The land, located along Reading Road, includes a section of Cold Run Creek, a tributary of the Wickecheoke. The newly-acquired acres lie about a half-mile from the Green Sergeant's Covered Bridge.

Thirty acres were bought by NJCF from Chuck and Lois Cline for $1.35 million, with funds from the State Farmland Preservation Program, Hunterdon County and Delaware Township.

Another five acres of adjacent farmland, valued at $282,500, were donated by Sven Helmer and Rachel Finkle, the owner of Joseph Finkle & Son hardware store in Lambertville.

The Cline property was part of the original 122-acre agricultural and dairy farm that had been in the family for more than 200 years. Chuck Cline is a retired businessman who still owns seven acres of land on Reading Road.

The 988-acre Wickecheoke Creek Preserve is open to the public and follows the course of the Delaware River tributary. It's home to several endangered species and 400 varieties of plants, and feeds into the Delaware & Raritan Canal, a source of drinking water for 1.2 million state residents.

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