Dear Friend:
2025 has been a stellar year for FOPOS’s impact on the health of our ecosystem and for our volunteer conservation work. We’ve expanded our educational offerings with new programs, completed and adopted a new strategic plan, moved forward our major restoration projects, and made our Program Coordinator a full-time employee. It’s been a busy year!
LEVERAGING THE COMMITMENT OF VOLUNTEERS:
Our staff and individual volunteers conducted an incredible 100 volunteer sessions through early November, with over 2,500 volunteer hours logged. The volunteers removed invasive species and installed native plants for our 25-acre Riparian Restoration project at the Billy Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve; continued to care for our 18-acre forest restoration area at the Preserve; and worked on the 45-acre Natural Climate Solutions project in Community Park North, where we are a partner with the Municipality of Princeton. We also hosted 30 corporate, school, university and community groups for volunteer stewardship sessions.
REPAIRING ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE AND BATTLING CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS:
As part of our project to restore riparian areas at Mountain Lakes, we, our volunteers and a contractor removed large amounts of invasive species and installed native plants and protective caging in areas along the lake shore. At Community Park North, we planted 600 native trees and shrubs this fall to increase the carbon uptake of the forest and its long-term health. In John Witherspoon Woods, we started a program to treat Beech Leaf Disease and to plant trees to replace those that will be lost. Through our new Adopt-a-Plot program, three Eagle Scouts adopted 50’ x 50’ plots on the east side of the lake; we plan to expand the program next year, and to offer high school teachers and students resources to turn this site into an outdoor classroom for environmental restoration.
ENGAGING THE PASSION OF YOUTH:
This summer we launched the Land Steward Youth Leadership Program with sixteen middle school and high school students from across our area, who participated in over 275 hours of hands-on land stewardship and environmental education. We saw significant growth in our internship programs, welcoming three college-age interns and continuing our partnership with the Municipality’s Summer Youth Employment Program, which sent us two interns from Princeton High School. The interns helped us conduct the fifth year of our native seed collection and plant program, highlighted by the presence of multiple monarch caterpillars in our greenhouse that we watched transform into butterflies!
CONNECTING OUR COMMUNITY TO THE NATURAL WORLD:
Over 350 people have attended our environmental education programs this year. These have included a variety of events that are free and open to the public, including bird walks, environmental book club sessions, nighttime moth observation, and guided tours of the chestnut leaf sculpture by artist Susan Hoenig, adjacent to our American Chestnut grove. For the second time since the grove was planted, one of the trees produced a fruit; we continue to care for the grove and to hope for the survival of this species that once dominated the eastern forest.
PLANNING FOR OUR FUTURE:
Board and staff are currently working on the initial tasks for implementation of the three-year Strategic Plan, which officially kicks in in 2026. We are making sure that our committee structure, succession plans and other key elements are in place for the long-term success and health of FOPOS. We have also engaged a professional forestry consulting firm, supported by a grant from the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service, to develop a comprehensive forest management plan for Mountain Lakes that will inform restoration priorities and strengthen future grant funding proposals.
This is the work you support, for which we are very grateful. Please help us continue these successes by donating to FOPOS again this year. And don’t forget to recruit a friend to be a Friend!
With all best wishes,
Wendy L. Mager
President, Friends of Princeton Open Space
We are grateful for the support of our members and hope you will continue to help us do this important work. Please renew your membership and recruit a friend to be a Friend!