By Wilson Conde
Middletown Township – With the help of community volunteers and a $2,500 grant from NJ American Water, Poricy Park’s Murray Pond and its surrounding ecosystem will be preserved for future generations of visitors, says Amy Sarrinikolaou a trustee for the Poricy Park Conservancy.
Erosion-preventing coir logs were installed at the pond’s eastern bank on Saturday by volunteers from Poricy Park Conservancy, the Middletown Green Team and Middletown High School North’s Environmental Club.
Murray Pond is located in the 250-acre park located off of Oak Hill Road near the NJ Transit railroad tracks. Poricy Park is home to the 18th century Murray Farmhouse and barn, a nature center, fossil beds and miles of hiking trails.
Saturday’s work was the second phase of a project, which began in April with the installation of coir logs on the northern bank of the pond. Plantings to naturally control erosion at the pond’s embankments is planned for the spring.
“I look forward to preserving the pond, so it can continue to serve as an ecosystem and an educational tool,” said Sarrinikolaou, the Board of Trustees’s liaison to the Middletown Township Committee.
Coir is a type of biodegradable material that is used to wrap logs made of straw, coconut-fiber material, flax, or other materials. Their purpose is to control erosion, usually from stormwater runoff, by helping retain soil and promote vegetation growth.
Sarrinikoloau said these projects serve an important purpose, helping make Murray Pond’s ecosystem a more robust natural habitat, which in turn enhances Poricy Park’s ability to provide educational programming in science and history.
She said the project has received significant enthusiastic support from community members whenever they hear about it, as well as those who were involved in setting up the project. “They are positive, excited, and ready to go,” she said.
The water company’s annual environmental grant program is given to local environmental initiatives ranging from simple projects, to ones involving cutting-edge technology. The projects are proposed, planned, organized, and carried out by community-based organizations, according to Greer Thacker, an environmental specialist at NJ American Water.
“We share their vision of local watershed protection,” Thacker said. “We’re looking for things that are really reaching out to the community.”
