annual appeal, land preservation, nature
FOPOS
2024 Annual Membership Letter

Since 1969, your generous support has fueled our success. Read Friends of Princeton Open Space’s annual membership letter to see how your contributions are driving vital conservation efforts, from habitat restoration to mentoring young environmental leaders. Help us make even greater strides in 2025.

2024 Annual Membership Letter
FOPOS
FOPOS Seeks Program Coordinator

FOPOS seeks a part-time program coordinator to work directly with FOPOS’s Director of Natural Resources and Stewardship to manage the organization’s year-round volunteer stewardship program and community events series. The selected candidate should be detail-oriented and able to manage emails, databases, program messaging and schedules as well as improve upon existing systems and workflow. Ideally, the program coordinator will be an enthusiastic person supportive of and tapped into land stewardship and preservation within the greater Princeton area. Web design skills, and experience in fundraising or marketing and promoting a business are a plus. This is an administrative job that offers flexibility in location, with the ideal candidate available to participate in regular in-person meetings and work sessions, as well as be present for key events located at the Billy Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve in Princeton, NJ.

This is an ongoing position that has the potential to grow with the right candidate, and is suitable for professionals as well as recent graduates with applicable skill sets.

FOPOS Seeks Program Coordinator
annual appeal, land preservation, nature
FOPOS
Recruit A Friend To Be A Friend

Over the past twelve months, Friends of Princeton Open Space has focused on ecological restoration projects and on educating the next generation of conservationists, including those from communities of color. We are happy to report that, with your support, we have chalked up major successes.

Recruit A Friend To Be A Friend
photo contest
FOPOS
Princeton, We Have A Winner!

We’re thrilled to announce the winners of this year’s photo contest. While it’s never easy to choose, we think these top three are pretty outstanding.

Princeton, We Have A Winner!
annual appeal, land preservation, nature
FOPOS
A Message from Wendy Mager, FOPOS President

The past twelve months have been filled with new projects and new achievements for Friends of Princeton Open Space that advance our mission to preserve and care for open space, educate the public on environmental issues, and advocate for sound governmental decisions. Here’s some of what we’ve accomplished with your support.

A Message from Wendy Mager, FOPOS President

Mountain Lakes is now a Monarch Waystation

The Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve is now a certified Monarch Waystation, sponsored by Monarch Watch.  Monarch Watch is a non-profit organization started by the University of Kansas, Department of Entomology.  On their website you can view a map of certified Monarch Waystations, report a tagged monarch butterfly, and read up on monarch conservation. 

These butterflies are endangered due to lack of habitat and pesticide usage.  Monarchs only lay eggs on milkweed plants, as it is the only plants the caterpillars can eat.  Tusculum Meadow and the J. Seward Johnson, Sr. Trail, bordering Coventry Farm, starting on Great Road, are both fantastic monarch habitats and contain lots of milkweed and nectar providing plants.  Mountain Lakes is proud to be a certified stop for monarchs on their incredible migration south to Mexico for the winter. 

For more information on monarch butteflies and how to help their conservation efforts, visit Monarch Watch and The Xerces Society. 

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Friends of Princeton Open Space Receives Franklin Parker Grant

Friends of Princeton Open Space (“FOPOS”) is pleased to announce that it has recently received its third Franklin Parker Excellence Grant, through a grant program administered by New Jersey Conservation Foundation.  Previous grants were used for projects in the 400-acre Mountain Lakes Open Space Area that surrounds FOPOS’s headquarters at Mountain Lakes House, and included installing native plants, constructing deer exclosures to protect native trees, shrubs and plants, and removing invasive species.

This year’s grant will be used to purchase resources to teach children from local schools and summer camps the importance and wonder of the natural world.  The children will be able to use equipment such as microscopes, insect nets and water quality testing kits to study plants and animals in our parks, and will also be given supplies for activities to do at home.

Since receiving the grant in June, FOPOS has already hosted 36 children from the Princeton YMCA Outdoor Living Skills camp.  FOPOS Natural Resources Manager Jeff Geist, along with summer interns Anna Korn and Katrina O’Donnell, gave the children a guided hike, pointed out edible wild berries, identified trees and wildlife, and taught basic outdoor first-aid.  FOPOS hopes to partner with many other school and camp groups to continue its environmental education work with the new equipment.

Top 10 DO NOT PLANT LIST

These plants are readily available at many nurseries, but they are invasive and can rapidly take over a natural area.  Native plants are easier to care for, require no fertilizer, and create habitats for wildlife.  There are many places to purchase native plants, such as D&R Greenway's Native Plant Nursery.  http://www.drgreenway.org/NativeNursery.html