Open space advocates
U.F. residents honored for preservation dedication
BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer

CHRIS KELLY staff Liz Kwasnik and Kathy Ricci ride a carriage pulled by Bently and Bellamia on Bayberry Farm in Allentown, which has been permanently preserved.

They are friends, neighbors and cochairwomen of the Upper Freehold Open Space Committee (OSC).

Lieselotte "Liz" Kwasnik and Kathy Ricci are also avid horsewomen who share a passion for nature and preservation. In a difficult economic environment, these women managed to make the case for open space and saw the community rewarded for their efforts on Election Day, when voters approved a two-cent increase in taxes put toward farmland preservation.

When the township's Open Space Committee reorganized in January, past chairman John Mele said he could no longer serve as the group's leader because of his new position as chairman of the Planning Board. Audrey Wendolowski, Susan Winter, Barry Wright, Deputy Mayor Bob Faber and Committeeman David Reed, who are the other members of the committee, replaced him with Kwasnik and Ricci.

Neither woman had served on the committee before. However, Kwasnik brought the committee documents that she thought might help it focus its goals, and the members suggested she be named chairwoman. Kwasnik was reluctant, but agreed to cochair the group with Ricci.

CHRIS KELLY staff Liz Kwasnik and Kathy Ricci, who helped Upper Freehold pass an increase in the open space tax this year, ride on the preserved Bayberry Farm in Allentown.

Born in Alabama to German parents, Kwasnik spent most of her youth in Germany before coming back to the United States in 1974. Although she earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, Kwasnik did not practice as a veterinarian but started her career at the United States Department of Agriculture. She now works for a Japanese pharmaceutical firm, where she serves as the point person for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. She formerly spent a lot of time traveling internationally for her job, but that has not been the case recently, she said. Kwasnik and her husband, Frank, moved to a small farm in Upper Freehold in 1999.

Ricci grew up in the township on her parents' Bayberry Farm on Ellisdale Road. Her late father, Louis Hock, was a captain for American Airlines and also trained and bred standardbred racehorses. Ricci taught foreign languages and English as a second language at Manville High School in Manville, but since the birth of her daughter Joanna, who is now 9 years old, has been a stay-at-home mom. Ricci and her husband, Brian, have two other daughters, Hallie, 8, and Camille, 6, and live in a house on a lot subdivided from her parents' farm. She is also an active volunteer with the Allentown Presbyterian Church and served as horse coordinator for the church's annual Freedom Fest.

Kwasnik met Ricci's mother, Dorothy Hock, before she met Ricci; they share a love of carriage driving. She said both Hock and Ricci are now like extended family.

Hock placed her 43-acre property into the farmland preservation program in 2007, when Mele encouraged her to preserve her land. The transaction served as one of the major factors in Ricci's decision to get involved with open space preservation in the township. Ricci said she thought of her involvement as a way to do something for future generations.

Kwasnik, who also sought out involvement in local endeavors, took advice from her friend and former mayor Richard Osborn, and joined the Open Space Committee.

Kwasnik and Ricci helped the committee compile data about the benefits of open space and farmland preservation, put to- gether a slide show and gave several presentations throughout the community to help the township clinch support of a twocent increase in the open space tax this year. The women said they learned a lot from the project, including that there is a great deal of active recreational space in town but that residents would like to see more passive recreational land.

Ricci said she learned that the Upper Freehold community is both "special and committed."

"It's really fantastic to live here," she said.

Kwasnik said the Open Space Committee never said "please vote yes" for the tax increase but asked the public to "please vote," while providing information about the choice.

The women said the Open Space Committee has a few more projects in the works, including an open space inventory. The inventory project, which will begin soon, has received a grant from the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions (ANJEC) and will enable the committee to get an overview of and to categorize land that has been preserved in the township.

The Open Space Committee meets the second Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the municipal building.

For more information, call 609-758- 7738.