Help Replenish Moorestown's Trees This Week

Join STEM and the Moorestown Tree Planting Committee this week to add 100 new trees and shrubs to the town's roster.

Photos: STEM Open Space Festival

STEM supporters enjoyed another beautiful day at Strawbridge Lake Park Sunday, and local photographer Bill Creekmore was on hand to capture images from the day.

Save The Environment of Moorestown (STEM)—which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year—helds its annual STEM Steps Out Open Space Festival on Sunday, bringing out quite a crowd to Strawbridge Lake Park for a day of fishing, farmer's markets, face painting, crafting and canoe rides, among other activities. Local photographer Bill Creekmore was there to capture the festivities and shared them with Patch.  Did you take photos at the festival? Share them with the rest of the community by uploading them here.

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STEM Founders 'Planted the Seeds' for Open Space Activism

Save the Environment of Moorestown will celebrate its 40th anniversary at the annual Open Space Festival Sunday at Strawbridge Lake.

The founders of STEM (Save the Environment of Moorestown) have been trailblazing, literally and figuratively, for 40 years now. STEM president Kathy Huffman reflected on the group’s influence earlier this week, ahead of its annual Open Space Festival Sunday. Huffman said the women who founded STEM “planted the seeds” for Moorestown’s continued interest in open space preservation and laid the groundwork for the creation of later environmental groups and committees, like the Open Space Advisory Committee and Sustainable Moorestown. “The ladies who started this organization are just incredible,” said Huffman, noting the group’s involvement in the preservation of Stokes Hill and other properties over the years. “All of this is a culmination of…

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Letters to the Editor

Letter: With STEM Lawsuit Over, Back to Preserving Open Spaces

Kathy Huffman, president of Save the Environment of Moorestown, says it's time to get back to the business of taking car of Moorestown's open spaces.

To the editor: As the current president of STEM (Save The Environment of Moorestown), I want to thank everyone who spoke up, put signs out, beat the bushes, etc. to help save the Open Space Trust Fund. One thing I would like to make clear is that STEM was never opposed to improving athletic fields. Our children deserve good fields and lighting. They are our most precious resource. They are our future. We were opposed only to the proposed source of funding—the Open Space Fund. That said, I hope we can all get back to continuing to make Moorestown a special place. I do want to publicly thank all the STEM Steering Committee members who were courageous enough to take the initiative to file the lawsuit that helped us accomplish this change of …

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Wesley Bishop Bonded, But Fate of Open Space Fund Still Unclear

Moorestown council voted unanimously to bond $1.4 million for improvements to Wesley Bishop North, but Mayor John Button left open questions of how it would be paid.

Following last week’s talk of compromise on the Open Space debate, township council voted Monday to bond $1.4 million for the Wesley Bishop North project. But anyone looking for assurances that council won’t use the Open Space Trust Fund to pay for it will have to wait. Council was full of positivity Monday night after approving unanimously—on first reading—a $1.4 million bond for improvements to the park, seemingly clearing the path for progress on the long-stalled project. Prior to the vote, township manager Scott Carew ran down a list of all the major capital projects before the township—Wesley Bishop North, the municipal complex, recreation center improvements, etc.—and their total price tag: roughly $19 million. Over a 20-year bond, …

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Judge Denies Open Space Injunction

However, STEM's challenge to the township's Open Space spending is still unsettled.

A judge ruled Friday that STEM (Save the Environment of Moorestown) couldn’t immediately stop the township from using the Open Space Trust Fund to pay for athletic field improvements, but the question of whether council is ultimately in the right is far from settled. Superior Court Judge Ronald Bookbinder wasn’t sufficiently convinced in the strength of STEM’s case to grant the injunction—intended to block the township’s use of the Open Space, Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund for improvements to Wesley Bishop North—filed by attorney Jeffrey Baron. Even with the favorable ruling, Moorestown likely won't move ahead immediately on the project in case the town loses the larger case. Bookbinder did not throw out STEM's …

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G. Williams

1:38 am on Monday, August 6, 2012

Ed, If you listened carefully to what Baron, the attorney representing MSOS/STEM said, the ethics board never took the full case on the charge against Councilman Testa. Bill Kearns, the boards attorney, cited what he determined was a similiar case where the charge was dropped. Maybe that set a precedent for them since it ended there. However, the case was refiled with the AG's office, and there …   more ›

STEM Photo Contest Winners

Winners were selected at the group's annual picnic earlier this month.

More than 200 photos were submitted for the STEM (Save the Environment of Moorestown) Nature Photo Contest this year.  Entries were judged by attendees at the group's annual picnic on Saturday, June 16. Six winners in all were selected in the adult and children's divisions.  Take pictures at the picnic? Send them to rob.scott@patch.com and we'll share them with the community. 

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At the Library

It's a Banner Day at Moorestown Library

S.T.E.M. banners commemorating open space on display at library.

The next time you stop in at the library—look up! We are honored to be displaying S.T.E.M.’s beautiful open space banners, which have transformed our library into an inspiring gallery of original art. Since 1991, Save the Environment of Moorestown (S.T.E.M.) has acknowledged every piece of open space it has preserved by commissioning a banner to commemorate it. Each banner is created by a local artist or group of artists and each is a unique design. Some of the banners are painted on canvas, others are quilted or appliquéd fabric.   These beautiful banners used to hang in the town hall council chambers, but since the fire in town hall they have had no permanent display space. At the 2010 S.T.E.M festival at Strawbridge Lake Park, reference…

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Picture Nature

It's time again for STEM's annual photography contest.

If it's spring, it must be time for Moorestown STEM's annual photography contest. The rules are simple: Some tips: Digital editing and adjustments are accepted, but not photo montages. Mail entries to STEM, P.O. Box 704, Moorestown, NJ 08057 by June 8, 2011. Entries may also be dropped off at STEM’s Annual Picnic on June 13. A maximum of four entries per person will be accepted. You do not need to be present to win. All prints submitted will become the property of STEM for non-commercial use in educational and promotional materials.  For more information, Please call Bill Creekmore at 856-461-8717.   2010 “Nature in Moorestown Photo Contest Winners Children’s division (under 18): Nate and Gwen Wilkie, Red Tailed Hawk Adult division:

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Patch O' Green

S.T.E.M. Steps Into the Wild

The community group serves a critical function—keeping beautiful our dwindling nature preserves.

The community spirit of Moorestown was again in full effect Saturday, as volunteers descended on an area of the Pompeston Creek that was in need of cleanup. Through the efforts of S.T.E.M.—the longtime environmental nonprofit that calls Moorestown home—a wooded area straddling New Albany Road, just north of Church Road, was made that much more pristine. The Pompeston Creek runs through Cinnaminson, mainly through Fountain Farms Park. S.T.E.M.—Save the Environment of Moorestown—has lead such cleanup activities in town for nearly 40 years. Founding member Kay Smith was there in 1972 when the community group was formed, and today presides as chairperson of the Natural Area Care (NAC) program, which is administered through S.T.E.M. She was at …

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