Carson Woods group awarded $5K grant

Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
The Lawrence Ledger

October 6, 2005

The Friends of Carson Road Woods was recently awarded a $5,000 state grant to make improvements to portions of the trails at the township-owned preserve.

The money was awarded to the Friends group by the state Department of Environmental Protection through the federal Recreational Trails Program, which finances development and maintenance of recreational trails.

"This grant will provide the funding necessary to enhance public access to the Carson Road Woods nature preserve," said Robert Hunsicker, president of the Friends of Carson Road Woods' board of directors.

"In making this award, the state is recognizing Carson Road Woods as a community treasure and assisting the Friends' efforts to improve the preserve's hiking trails for year round enjoyment," Mr. Hunsicker said.

The money will be used to make improvements to portions of the trail that are prone to flooding. It will also pay for repairs or replacements to trail markers and for the installation of boxes to hold the trail maps where the trails begin. Signs will be installed at the parcel's entrances.

The Friends of Carson Road Woods Inc. maintain the 183-acre parcel--including five miles of marked trails--on a volunteer basis. The property contains an old growth beech forest, open fields and active farmland.

Lawrence Township paid $8.4 million for the property in 2001, through a combination of public and private money.

Carson Road Woods, which had been threatened by development before its acquisition by the township, is bordered by Carson Road, Belleview Terrace, Province Line Road and Carter Road.

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