Also, please feel free to look around the rest of our website. We feel that Valerie Woods is a truly wondrous piece of property that deserves to be preserved and protected. And, we think that after you've looked around our Website and viewed the pictures of the property, you too will agree that Valerie Woods is a very special place.
You will see our logo throughout the Website which contains the following quote from Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that can". We adhere to the spirit and content of this message, as we believe we can and will help to preserve and protect this beautiful natural area.
Thank you.
Mark Allen
Chairperson, Friends of Valerie Woods
My name is Mark Allen and I live at 160 Folsom Drive. I am chairperson of The Friends of Valerie Woods, a group of Harrison Township residents from all walks of life. Our membership reflects the diversity that makes our neighborhoods and our community strong.
Valerie Woods is an undeveloped 101 acre parcel of Harrison Township property sitting on the doorstep of Valerie and Meadowdale Schools. It contains springs, meadows, wetlands, old growth forest, a limestone ravine, a waterfall, and a multitude of wildlife which, taken together, form an integrated and self-contained ecosystem of incredible beauty and biological diversity.
The Friends of Valerie Woods know what a very special place Valerie Woods is. We have come here tonight to help ensure that the unique natural features that comprise this living laboratory are preserved for the education and enjoyment of future generations.
The Harrison Township Trustees purchased Valerie Woods because, according to the Trustees, they needed a place to build a new fire station and they wished to control the development of the remainder of the property.
The Friends of Valerie Woods are not opposed to the new fire station. We are in favor of preserving Valerie Woods.
We understand and appreciate the possibilities presented by public ownership of this unique property. Public ownership gives us the chance to hold meetings like this one; to talk about what is best for our neighborhoods and for our community.
We also believe that we cannot know too much about Valerie Woods or about the plans our elected officials may have for this property. We have sponsored a number of meetings to educate ourselves about this special place, and we have held a number of "walks through the woods" so we could see the beauty of Valerie Woods for ourselves. This information helps us to develop an informed opinion. We talk among ourselves about the possibilities as we walk through the woods, and we dream of a spring to come where student groups from Valerie and Meadowdale Schools can walk from their indoor classrooms across the street and into an amazing outdoor classroom. We see them learning about the importance of wetlands, and meadows, and wildlife, and about the big trees. They learn about these things, not at some far away place too quickly forgotten once the day is over; they learn them in their own backyard.
The Friends of Valerie Woods know that this dream can become a reality. As mentioned earlier, we are not opposed to the new fire station; we are in favor of preserving Valerie Woods. We know there is only one place on the Valerie Woods property where you can put the new fire station without destroying this dream, and that is on Turner Road, well away from the intersection of Turner and Philadelphia. This is location 1 in the Township's Fire Station siting study, identified by that study as having the least impact on the existing community. If the fire station must go somewhere on the Valerie Woods property, then this is where it must go.
Thank you.
Mark Allen, The Friends of Valerie Woods
September 21, 1999
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