Land conservation group faces grim realities State's shrinking horse industry, fiscal crisis loom over preservation BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer Millstone Mayor Nancy Grbelja received a round of applause for her speech in support of saving the state's equine industry at the 31st annualMonmouth Conservation Foundation (MCF) Board of Trustees meeting. At the Middletown home of MCF President Judith Stanley Coleman on April 27, Grbelja addressed municipal, county and state officials as well as other guests about Monmouth County's Save The Horse Committee. She and Coleman both serve on the committee, which was recently formed by Freeholder Lillian G. Burry and is comprised of a variety of stakeholders dedicated to lobbying state officials to preserve New Jersey's horse industry. Grbelja, who chairs the new committee, spoke about how supporting the state's equine industry is tied to preserving open space and farmland. She said Monmouth County is home to 960 equine operations, the second highest number in the state. She said 30,000 acres in the county are directly used by the equine industry, with another 16,000 acres indirectly supporting the industry with services such as hay and grain production. The quality of life county residents are assured as a result of open space and farmland associated with the horse industry is important, according to Grbelja. "It's all under attack," she said, referring to the state's refusal to allow video lottery terminals at racetracks while surrounding states have already implemented their use. "Slot machines in Pennsylvania and New York are creating purses that our tracks can't compete with," Grbelja said. "When horsemen leave the state, what will happen to the open space and farmland? It will disappear." Grbelja said that purses at Freehold Raceway in Freehold averaged $3,000 last week while the average purses at New York and Pennsylvania tracks totaled $15-$20,000 as a result of the slots there. Grbelja noted that New Jersey's casino industry recently agreed to supplement state purses with $90 million over three years before stating, "The day is over that [horsemen] will keep begging for supplements." She said the Save The Horse Committee is mobilizing to make the racing industry self-sufficient and sees slots as both a dedicated fund for open space preservation and a win/win for equine groups and conservation organizations like the MCF. TheMCF is a nonprofit land trust dedicated to acquiring, holding and reserving open space in Monmouth County. Last year, the MCF raised $350,000 for preservation efforts, according to Stanley Coleman. During her speech, Stanley Coleman warned that the state's current financial crisis is threatening the renewal of the Garden State Preservation Trust. The trust is a nine-member board that oversees the implementation of The Garden State Preservation Trust Act signed into law in 1999 to allow New Jersey to preserve 1 million acres over ten years. "If New Jersey funding mechanisms fail, I don't know what is going to happen," she said regarding the trust's future after 2009. With regard to current MCF fundraising for preservation causes, Stanley Coleman said the group needs $340,000 in order to receive a matching grant from the J.M. Huber Corp. in Edison. The MCF needed a total of $390,000 for the grant but Stanley Coleman announced at the meeting that she donated $50,000 to the cause. Howard Aronson, chairman of the MCF's acquisition committee, reported on current preservation projects. He said Middletown resident Richard Scudder donated 60 acres of "the most beautiful property in the state of New Jersey" to the New Jersey Audubon Society that the MCF will monitor. Aronson also reported that the 44-acre Holly Crest Farm in Middletown, owned by Vincent Annarella, is in the process of obtaining a permanent easement so it can never be developed. He noted that the property is adjacent to the county-owned Huber Woods and that it would be the site of the MCF's annual dinner/dance fundraiser in late September. MCF Secretary Shannon Eadon, of Rumson, said this year's dinner/dance has a racing theme and will be called "The Homestretch." The event will have to raise more money than ever before to match the Huber grant, she said. In 2007, MCF's outreach program, in partnership with other agencies, helped preserve 1,500 acres of open space and farmland inMonmouth County, according to Aronson. Most recently, the MCF worked with other land trusts and the state to preserve 101 acres along Breza Road in Upper Freehold and Allentown and donated funds to Asbury Park to maintain and preserve its historic Liberty Square Park. Stanley Coleman said future projects may include the preservation of the 20- acre Chris's Deli property on Front Street and the Coe property on Sleepy Hollow Road in Middletown. A MCF trustee has donated funding for a Great Spaces of Monmouth County Geographic Information System survey, which will help determine where the MCF should focus its priorities. Bob O'Neil, a water protection specialist with the New Jersey Water Supply Authority, said the MCF's project committee has determined that the Earle Naval Weapons Station in Middletown and Colts Neck is one of the most environmentally critical areas in the county. He added that there is not a single vacant parcel in the county that doesn't have some environmentally critical feature on it. The MCF gave awards to Sarah Hofer, Logan Eadon, Grace Smith, Brittany Potter and Catie Torcivia, who are five Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School students that volunteered at last year's Monmouth Coaching Invitational. Stanley Coleman said the girls worked four days tending to horses, setting up and taking down 40 temporary stalls and moving 200 bales of hay and straw. Other attendees at the meeting included Assemblywoman Amy Handlin (R-Monmouth), and Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders Barbara McMorrow and John D'Amico. Burry was unable to attend because a recent fall left her with a broken arm, according to Stanley Coleman. The western part of the county was well represented with Upper Freehold Township Administrator Barbara Bascom, Monmouth County Park System Director James Truncer and his wife Ramona, of Allentown, Millstone Open Space and Farmland Preservation Council Chairwoman Pat Butch andMCF Trustee Cory Wingerter, of Millstone, attending. For more information about the MCF, visit www.monmouthconservation.org.