Bench Dedication at Harold Peek Preserve

Officers of the Cumberland County Improvement Authority (CCIA) and area environmental organizations will host a dedication of new public benches at the Natural Lands Trust’s Harold Peek Preserve, Friday, March 20, at 1 p.m.
The benches were funded by an Environmental Community Enhancement Grant from the CCIA.
They came about as a result of the growing popularity of Raptor Discovery Days, three days of environmental education for 3, 4, and 5 graders from Cumberland County held in conjunction with that county’s annual Winter Eagle Festival.
This year’s eighth annual event saw 545 schoolchildren visit Harold Peek Preserve and the Glades Wildlife Refuge for guided tours and classroom instruction.
In addition to the CCIA, support for Raptor Discovery Days comes from the New Jersey Audubon Society through the Nature Center of Cape May, which coordinates the educational programming presented by the Natural Lands Trust, Citizens United to Protect the Maurice River and Its tributaries, the Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge, the Bayshore Discovery Project, the Barn Studio of Art, and the Cumberland County 4-H Youth Development Program.
The dedication will be emceed by Gretchen Ferrante, sanctuary direction of the New Jersey Audubon Society’s Nature Center of Cape May.
Guests will include Dennis J. DeMatte Jr., of the CCIA; Steve Eisenhauer, regional director of Stewardship and Protection of the Natural Lands Trust; and Kim Wood, director of the Cumberland County Dept. of Planning and Development.
Peek Preserve encompasses 256 acres along the freshwater, tidal Maurice River in Cumberland County and is part of the Natural Lands Trust.
It is home to some of the healthiest wild rice marsh in southern New Jersey and to a variety of migrating birds, including Bald Eagles.
Members of the public are invited to attend the dedication, at 2100 South 2nd St. (Rt. 47), in Millville.
Take the red stone driveway entrance across from Lilac Avenue on Rte. 47, about 1.5 miles south of Rte. 49.
The benches are at the end of the half-mile access road, at a riverfront location.
For more information, call 609-898-8848.