Volunteer Stewardship Opportunities at St. Michaels Farm Preserve

The St. Michaels Farm Preserve is a historic farm property of nearly 400 acres, located at the edge of Hopewell Borough between Princeton Avenue and Aunt Molly Road. Its sweeping scenic vista takes in almost exclusively agricultural land and forest, and features views of the Sourland Mountains to the north and the Princeton Ridge to the south.

The property was preserved by D&R Greenway Land Trust with the support and perseverance of the Hopewell community and private donors.  The farm has become a popular spot for hiking, dog walking, and observing the many wild bird species which call the preserve home.  Cows can be seen on the farm from spring through fall.  The 2012 farm season will include sheep and chickens with the cows, managed sustainably through rotational grazing.

D&R Greenway Land Trust is assembling a corps of volunteers to do conservation work, one morning a week, at the preserve. Tasks will be varied, physical, and social, and include trail work, invasive species control, and working at the farm’s Native Seed Project.

Those interested in volunteering should sign up for an initial orientation session to take place in the morning on Thursday, March 1^st, 10:00 am at St. Michaels Farm Preserve by contacting D&R Greenway Land Trust at (609) 924-4646 or e-mailing St. Michaels Farm Preserve Manager Bill Flemer at bflemer@drgreenway.org. 

The orientation group will meet in the St. Michaels Farm Preserve parking lot located on Princeton Avenue in Hopewell.  In the event of rain or snow, the meeting will take place at D&R Greenway’s Johnson Education Center, One Preservation Place, Princeton, NJ 08540.   

Volunteer days, beginning in March, will be on Thursday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm.

The Native Seed fields are one of several projects at the preserve which meld conservation and agriculture. Thirteen species of native plants are being cultivated, including wildflowers such as New England aster and Joe Pye weed, and native grasses such as Indian grass and broomsedge.

The 6 acres of production fields produce seed for a blended native seed mix for restoration of landfills, parks, and degraded natural areas in the region. The seed mix is the only native plant seed mix derived exclusively from genetically local populations in the entire northeastern United States.

Other conservation practices at the farm that volunteers will be involved in include planting of trees at several carbon sequestration sites, maintaining ecological diversity in the stream corridor, maintaining trails and stream crossings, and the restoration of farm hedgerows through invasive plant removal and the planting of native shrubs and wildflowers.

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D&R Greenway Land Trust