Community News

Join New Jersey Conservation Foundation on Sunday, Nov. 8, for an afternoon of hiking, followed by a beer-tasting event to raise funds for fighting the proposed PennEast pipeline.

The day will start with the 20^th annual Donald & Beverley Jones Memorial Hike, honoring the lives and work of a Delaware Township couple who were instrumental in preserving the area’s natural beauty and historic sites.

Hikers can choose from three free hikes:

• A six-mile “Hike Down Memory Lane,” starting at 12:30 p.m. and retracing the route of the first Jones Hike;
• A four-mile “Walk the Pipeline Route” hike beginning at 1:15 p.m. and traversing lands that could be affected by the PennEast pipeline;
• A two-mile “Family Hike” along the Wickecheoke Creek starting at 2:30 p.m.

All hikes will begin at the Prallsville Mills on Route 29, one of the historic places that Donald and Beverley Jones helped save.

Buses will transport “Pipeline Route” hikers to the starting point; dogs will not be allowed on the buses. The “Hike Down Memory Lane” and “Family Hike” will leave on foot from the mill complex, and leashed dogs are welcome.

All hikes will return to the Prallsville Mills at approximately 3:30 p.m., just in time for the “Pints Not Pipelines” event beginning at 4 p.m.

There are separate registrations for the hikes and Pints Not Pipelines. “Although we expect that many people will attend both events, they can hike without attending Pints Not Pipelines afterward, or attend Pints Not Pipelines without hiking,” explained Bill Lynch, events coordinator for New Jersey Conservation Foundation.

Registration for Pints Not Pipelines is $40 per person and includes three drink tickets, each good for one beer from the New Jersey-based Flying Fish brewery.

Live entertainment will be provided by The Bins, featuring pipeline fighter Patty Cronheim. Appetizers will be prepared by Metropolitan Seafood, Chamber’s Walk and other local chefs and businesses. The beer tasting is only for ages 21-plus, but children’s activities will be offered in a separate area.

To register for the free hikes, go to https://donate.njconservation.org/2015-jones-memorial-hike.

To register for Pints Not Pipelines, go to https://donate.njconservation.org/2015-pints-not-pipelines.

For more information, contact Lynch at blynch@njconservation.org or 908-997-0725.

To learn more about the PennEast pipeline proposal, visit http://njconservation.org/currentissues.htm.

New Jersey Conservation Foundation is a private non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve land and natural resources throughout New Jersey. Since 1960, the Foundation has protected 125,000 acres of open space, farmland and parks. For more information about New Jersey Conservation Foundation and its programs and preserves, visit www.njconservation.org.

Donald Jones, a former New Jersey Conservation Foundation president, and his wife Beverley were local conservation legends and the driving force behind preserving the Prallsville Mills, Green Sergeant’s Covered Bridge and the Locktown Stone Church. Donald Jones passed away in 1994 and Beverley Jones passed away in 2013. 

Photo by Patrick James Law