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!
PRESERVATION OF 90 ACRES ON HERRONTOWN ROAD
We look forward to a closing on another critical large tract on the Princeton Ridge – 90 acres on the north side of Herrontown Road, adjacent to Herrontown Woods Preserve. Friends of Princeton Open Space is contributing $390,000 of State Green Acres grant funding plus a private gift of $1 million towards the acquisition of this land, which was subject to intense development pressure before a preservation agreement was reached with the Municipality, FOPOS, and other non-profit partners. State grants to the consortium, County grants to the Municipality, our local open space tax and other private funds are all helping secure this important link in the forested tracts on Princeton’s perimeter, which provide important environmental services such as slowing stormwater runoff and habitat for threatened species.
Read on for more programming and event highlights…
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.
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.
FOPOS provides Internships for young people actively pursuing a degree or career in ecology, natural resource management, environmental education, or related fields. Each summer, FOPOS welcomes a roster of budding naturalists to work with our Stewardship Team and interface with volunteer groups and our community. Read more about FOPOS's Internship program. FOPOS is also proud to offer Internships to high school students in partnership with the Outdoor Equity Alliance. Thank you to FOPOS's partners and friends for helping to make these Internships possible.
Please meet the 2023 Land Steward Interns…
Stop by for cider and snacks at Mountain Lakes House from 10 am to 4 pm on Friday, November 27 during while participating in the 1st annual Give Thanks for Nature Photo contest sponsored by REI and Friends of Princeton Open Space.
Sincerely,
Adam Schellhammer
Natural Resource Manager
Friends of Princeton Open Space and REI are encouraging the Princeton Community to OptOutside and enjoy nature this Thanksgiving weekend. Plan a visit to Mountain Lakes Preserve on Thanksgiving Day or Black Friday and bring your camera to participate in the 1st annual FOPOS Give Thanks for Nature Photo Contest.
Take your best shot of all that Mountain Lakes Preserve has to offer, and submit your photo for a chance to win an REI gift card!
Mountain Lakes Preserve is located at 57 Mountain Ave, Princeton, NJ 08203. Contestants can park at the Community Park North parking lot.
Files must be in JPG format. Any aspect ratio is acceptable, but please size the file so that the longest dimension is 1500 pixels and set the quality to “high.”
Filenames MUST include your name brief description of picture:
For example: if your name is Joe Smith and you are submitting a photo of an oak tree, you might name your file:
JoeSmith-Oak tree.jpg
DO NOT send files with your camera's default filename!
In order to ensure anonymous judging, please include no signatures or watermarks that would reveal the name of the photographer on the photo itself.
Entries must be submitted by midnight, Tuesday December 1st. Please e-mail jpeg files to info@fopos.org, with Photo Contest in the subject line.
The photographer retains full copyright to his or her images. However, participation in the contest requires the contestant to give Friends of Princeton Open Space permission to use the photographs without compensation on the website as well as in news releases which may appear in print or on third party websites for the purpose of publicizing the contest. Friends of Princeton Open Space will always include the photographer's name when using a photograph for any purpose.
Adults and families with children 8 and older are invited to join Jeff Hoagland, Education Director of Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, on an autumn evening walk of the Watershed Reserve trails. Gain an intimate glimpse into the nocturnal world as we look for glowworms, listen for flying squirrels and call for owls. Bring a flashlight. Registration is required – please email mpolefka@thewatershed.org or call 609-737-7592 for more information and to sign up. Fee is $8pp for members of either organization, $12pp for non-members.. This program is co-sponsored by Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association.
When: Friday, October 9, 2015, 8:00-9:30PM
Where: Watershed Center, 31 Titus Mill Road, Pennington, NJ\
Adam Schellhammer
Natural Resource Manager
Friends of Princeton Open Space
FOPOS HELPS ADD IMPORTANT LAND TO PRINCETON BATTLEFIELD
On September 16, 2015 President Wendy Mager and several board members joined Mayor Liz Lempert, County Executive Brian Hughes, State Park Service Director Mark Texel, State Senator Kip Bateman and many others to celebrate the addition of the D’Ambrisi tract to Princeton Battlefield State Park. Kip Cherry, Vice President of the Princeton Battlefield Society, organized the event and was instrumental in working with the D’Ambrisi family to preserve their land. Mrs. D’Ambrisi and two of her sons looked on proudly as they were commended for their decision, and the Mayor referred to all of the citizens who helped make this happen as modern-day heroes, who compliment the heroes who fought on this land during the American Revolution.
FOPOS contributed $200,000 toward the acquisition, consisting of a grant from the County’s open space program and $100,000 of funding from the DEP’s Green Acres program.
As part of the acquisition process, the D’Ambrisihouse was removed and the dam for the on-site pond was repaired by the municipality. A tributary of Stony Brook flows through this and adjacent lots, all of which were once part of the landscape of the Drumthwacket estate designed for Moses Taylor Pyne after the Revolution. The site contains many lovely, mature trees, and a new trail provides access from the area of the colonnade in Battlefield Park.
The 4.6-acre D’Ambrisi property provides a critical link from Battlefield Park to Stockton Street (Route 206 South), and was the site of critical events in the Battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777. That event was a turning point in the Revolutionary War, the first battle won against professional British soldiers. After the battle, 21 British and 15 American soldiers were buried in one grave in this area due to the frozen ground and the need for American troops to hasten away from the approach of General Cornwallis and his 8,000 soldiers. The Battlefield Society has received a federal grant to study the site, and has already performed ground penetrating radar studies.
The vision for the future is to connect the D’Ambrisi property with many other preserved lands on both sides of Battlefield Park, by continuing a bike path from the eastern side of the Park over to Stockton Street and along Stockton Street to Edgerstoune Road.
CELEBRATION OF NEW FOOTBRIDGES TO BE HELD AT BILLY JOHNSON MOUNTAIN LAKES NATURE PRESERVE
On Sunday, October 18th at 1:30, Friends of Princeton Open Space (FOPOS) and the Municipality of Princeton will celebrate the completion of two new footbridges at the Billy Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve. The bridges will make the beautiful natural setting more accessible for walkers.
Members of the public are invited. Refreshments will be served at Mountain Lakes House after a ribbon-cutting at the footbridges.
The bridges afford lovely views of tributaries of the Stony Brook, and are now part of a trail system of over eight-and-one-half miles in the greater Mountain Lakes Recreation Area. They cross two small streams that were obstacles to hikers in the southwest section of the Preserve. FOPOS collaborated with the municipal Engineering Department to obtain needed permits and organize the construction. Princeton contracted for the laying of the bridge foundations and erection of the steel supports, while FOPOS members donated their time and labor to build the wooden superstructure.
The costs of the footbridges were met by a combination of a $50,000 grant to FOPOS from a private foundation; the time of members of the Engineering Department; and the time of FOPOS volunteers. FOPOS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and protecting open space in Princeton, and holds the conservation easements on the Mountain Lakes Preserve and Mountain Lakes House. FOPOS has also “adopted” the adjacent Mountain Lakes North and John Witherspoon Woods tracts through the municipal adopt-a-park program, and maintains the trails there as well as in Mountain Lakes Preserve and Community Park North.
