Dear Friend:
For 50 years, Friends of Princeton Open Space has been creating trail systems and educational programs that connect community members to the natural world, inspiring the next generation of environmental leaders and protecting the integrated ecosystems that purify our water, cool our climate and provide habitat for a vibrant and diverse population of native flora and fauna.
Since our founding in 1969, we depend on donors who have helped us preserve and protect more than 1,000 acres of land for our town, creating a resource for people of all ages and a refuge for snakes, turtles, birds and deer.
Now we are planning for the next 50 years and on the way, we have reached new milestones that we’re proud to tell you about.
We were able to upgrade our part-time Natural Resources Manager position to full time, and we recently welcomed Anna Corichi to the post. A biology and environmental studies graduate of Oberlin College with ten years’ experience in land management, she has provided leadership for our 18-acre forest restoration project. We are now poised to plant almost 7,500 trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants next spring at Mountain Lakes. In addition, Anna has organized volunteers who have dedicated more than 650 hours of their time since February 2019 removing invasive vegetation and planting and protecting native plants at the Billy Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve.
As part of the Natural Resources Working Group for the Princeton Climate Action Plan, FOPOS has helped assure that the plan calls for additional land to be protected to help Princeton address and mitigate effects of global warming—such as such as violent rainfall events and flooding—and for additional trees to be planted and protected to fight warming by enhancing carbon sequestration.
This past year, we partnered with Princeton University to develop senior thesis proposals on land use and protection. Throughout the year, we worked with the Princeton Environmental Commission, the Watershed Institute and the Garden Club of Princeton to present educational events about composting, gardening with native plants, and flora and fauna at Mountain Lakes Preserve. We also partnered with the Princeton Public Library, the New Jersey State Museum, the Amateur Astronomers Club and Princeton’s Department of Astrophysical Sciences to host an August program on exploring the night sky at Mountain Lakes House.
Anna and our two summer interns worked with children in the YMCA’s Outdoor Living Skills program, teaching them Leave No Trace Behind principles and taking them on an interactive “Nature Bingo” hike at Mountain Lakes. The interns created a plant identification guide for volunteers and a water-testing protocol for Mountain Lakes. Last spring, students from Princeton Day School and Princeton High School came to learn about and remove invasive species, and the Girl Scouts came for nature walks on the trails we maintain.
When the headwaters of Mountain Brook, which feeds Mountain Lake, were threatened by development, we took the lead to preserve the land, working with a number of entities, including the state Department of Environmental Protection/Green Acres Program as well as other nonprofits and the town of Princeton. We hope to close on this property in early 2020. In addition, we secured a donation of a small, but important parcel next to the popular “Devil’s Cave” formation in Witherspoon Woods. We are also working to help preserve substantial acreage on the western Princeton Ridge through donations and acquisition.
Our vision for the future is focused on preserving land for climate resiliency and trail connections all around Princeton, on science-based stewardship of the 140 acres of land we have adopted surrounding Mountain Lakes and on maintaining our trail systems there, along Stony Brook and in other parks.
As you plan your year-end giving, please consider Friends of Princeton Open Space. Your support at any level is needed and appreciated. Click here to make a donation of any amount to help us continue our work in Princeton.
With best regards,
Wendy L. Mager
President
P.S. And don’t forget to recruit a friend to be a Friend of Princeton Open Space.