Bordentown Beach – The Media Pub News (TM)

2020 River of the Year celebrates with art mural

Recently named River of the Year 2020 by American Rivers, the Delaware River will celebrate a completed art

Artist Marlon Davila begins painting D&R Greenway Mural at Bordentown Beach.
— Provided photo

mural along Bordentown Beach by July 4^th.

Not only are they celebrating the honor of being River of the Year 2020, but also D&R Greenway Land Trust is preparing for their upcoming Kayak Education Program on the banks of the Delaware River at Bordentown Beach, and so earlier this month they announced the first strokes of paint to the public art mural there.

So, D&R Greenway has partnered with the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Funds youth program, FUTURO, and the City of Bordentown in celebrating these diverse communities as the country celebrates June as American Rivers Month.

Bordentown Mayor Jim Lynch reflects on the importance of the Delaware River in his community and his personal life: “I literally grew up on the Delaware River,” he said.

“Whether it was fishing on Yapewi Aquatic Boat Club’s Docks at 3:00 a.m. with my uncle Babe or docking my first boat at Bordentown Yacht Club in 1971 under the tutelage of Past Comm. Bill Feaster, the River has a huge impact on my life,” Lynch said.

He mentioned that he lost his dad at 12-years-old, and that the River was an outlet for healing. He went on the say that after his classes at Bordentown Military Institute, he would go down to the River for water skiing adventures until dark.

The River has great family and community support and what “was once a river with many challenges of neglect and pollution has blossomed into this gem,” he said.

Delaware River Sunset at Bordentown Thomas Paine Bridge Crosswicks Creek Delaware — by Susan van Dongen.

The Mayor thanks D&R Greenway and others for their efforts in achieving the well-deserved and long overdue award and honor of River of the Year 2020.

While the mural-in-progress takes place, the artists are inviting the public to enjoy watching its creation at Bordentown Beach, but to remember to maintain social distancing efforts.

The creators intend for the mural to be “a symbol of perseverance, dedication, and love,” said Strategic Community Conservation Fellow Nadeem Demian, who is partnering with D&R Greenway through Princeton University.

The art will decorate the 40-foot shipping container that will store the watercraft and equipment for D&R Greenway’s upcoming kayak program.

Signage highlights partnerships to connect Circuit Trails

PRINCETON, N.J. — With funding from the William Penn Foundation, D&R Greenway plans to develop

From left – D&R Greenway Land Trust President & CEO Linda Mead; Bordentown City Mayor James Lynch; Joel Dowshen of the Abbott Marshlands Council; and Kay Widmer, representing Friends of the Abbott Marshlands. All welcome the new sign at Bordentown Beach that signals community partnerships.
— Provided photo

more interpretive signage like the new one at Bordentown Beach that connects communities.

As part of its new “Community Conservation” initiative, D&R Greenway, Abbott Marshlands, and TravelStorys App will partner to connect the Greater Philadelphia and Greater Trenton Circuit Trails.

The connectivity of these trails will feature historical and educational signage along their paths. There will be about four new signs.

“D&R Greenway’s expertise lies in maximizing existing partnerships and building new partnerships at all levels – State Government, County Government, Municipal Government, corporations, community groups, nonprofit organizations and individuals,” says President and CEO Linda Mead.

D&R Greenway recognizes all the beneficiaries of land preservation, and so the new totem-designed signage at Bordentown Beach in the Abbott Marshlands lists collaborators of the effort.

The sign helps to promote the use of the Circuit Trails, Tulpehaking Nature Center, and the TravelStorys app.

“D&R Greenway has acted as the leader to bring all these groups together to understand the importance of connecting communities and merging resources to do so,” Mead says.

“The signage will also acknowledge the perseverance and volunteer work of key community people, those who ultimately protect and care for our watershed with boots on the ground,” she says.

For 25 years now, D&R Greenway has been working toward preservation and stewardship of the Abbott Marshlands. It has worked with Mercer and Burlington counties to make the Abbott Marshlands and the Circuit Trails the robust community assets they are today.

An oasis of natural beauty, the Abbott Marshlands is a unique urban wetland where osprey, marsh wrens, and many kinds of butterflies and dragonflies live. There are also the occasional beluga whale and harp seal.

Human visitors include students on field trips, hikers, cyclists, bird watchers, canoeists, kayakers, fishers, hunters, photographers and artists.

Folks along these trails can also enjoy the offerings at the Tulpehaking Nature Center created by D&R Greenway and N.J. Green Acres Program in partnership with Mercer County.

Along with 15 new signs and trail maps, the new TravelStorys app that was released in 2017 provide paddling and walking tours, enabling visitors to imagine journeying back in time.

This app allows them to navigate Crosswicks Creek in the Abbott Marshlands, visit the bluffs that witnessed Lenape Indian life, early English settlers and French royalty. App users can hear the sounds of a railroad, summer insects and the call of an osprey while learning about key events that shifted the course of American history.

Both the app and new signage along the regional network of hundreds of miles of multi-use trails, enhance community connections, and will soon add the Tulpehaking Nature Center, Abbott Marshlands and Lawrence-Hopewell Trail to the Circuit network.

The William Penn Foundation not only funds the new signage for the Circuit Trails, but it also funds the Alliance for Watershed Education, which is a group of 23 nature centers that bring educational programs to the public with a goal of protecting natural resources of the Delaware River Watershed. More than 15 million people get their drinking water from the Delaware River Watershed.

D&R Greenway Land Trust and the Tulpehaking Nature Center are members of the Alliance for Watershed Education.