Nature courses at the D&R

Nurseries in need of help for preservation

By: Joseph Harvie
   The Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands are looking for more friends.
   The nonprofit organization raises money to offer programs and help preserve buildings on the 214-acre Mapleton Preserve, the former nursery site along the D&R Canal, between Mapleton and Ridge roads in Kingston. The township and the state acquired the site in January 2005 from Princeton University.
   "We’re trying to run events with the goal of bringing people to the preserve and help in building awareness for the preserve," said Kingston resident Karen Linder, president of the Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands. "We hope that we can get a group of people that can learn to know and love the place and are able to support its renovation."
   The organization is planning two upcoming events — including one Saturday — that will cost $5 each. Both require advance registration.
   The first is "Winter Trees and Winter Wildflowers at Mapleton Preserve," during which people will learn to identify different horticultural species while trees are dormant during the winter season, Ms. Linder said. Volunteers from the Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve, near New Hope, Pa., will present a slideshow on how to identify deciduous trees in the winter and lead a tour of the Mapleton Preserve to identify species in the former tree farm.
   Ms. Linder said that the tour will help visitors — as well, as herself — get more acquainted with the different species of trees and wildflowers that are in the preserve.
   "I was interested because I spend a lot of time in the preserve leading events and people always ask what things are," Ms. Linder said. "So I guess my hidden agenda is to learn for myself, so I can share that knowledge with people. And we want to build bridges to other organizations. Bowman’s is a strong organization with a loyal following and it’s a wonderful place."
   The event will run Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and will start at the D&R Canal State Park headquarters in the Mapleton Preserve.
   The second event is broken down in two parts, each lasting for two hours. The first part focuses on preventing and coping with being lost in the wilderness, while the second will demonstrate how to track animals, Ms. Linder said.
   The event is scheduled for March 17 and is being cosponsored by volunteers from the Children of the Earth Foundation, a nonprofit group, based in Waretown, that teaches wilderness survival, nature awareness, tracking and outdoor environmental education.
   The "lost-proof" family event, slated to start at 10 a.m., will feature a discussion on how to survive being stranded or lost in the wilderness, Ms. Linder said.
   "I think this is probably one of the most important discussions, because you will learn what your priorities are when you are lost," Ms. Linder said. "Is it food? A lot of people say, ‘I need food,’ after they just ate their peanut butter sandwich. And actually they could probably live for 60 days without food, but can die of exposure in a couple of hours. So, they’ll be talking about what the real priorities are."
   During the animal-tracking program, slated to start at 1 p.m., volunteers will teach the basics of tracking animals, Ms. Linder said.
   There have been numerous animal sightings in the preserve, such as fox, coyote and a large herd of deer, Ms. Linder said.
   "We’ll be looking at the landscape for hints of what’s there, except it ran away," Ms. Linder said while laughing.
   She said that there is a lot of open space in Kingston, between the Cook Preserve, the D&R Canal State Park and the Mapleton Preserve that "hosts a fairly sizable deer herd."
   "And so there’s a lot of deer tracks," she said. "But I’ve also seen tracks for fox and I’ve seen a fox in the preserve."
   Ms. Linder said that there are also raccoons and groundhogs and other small wildlife in the park. She said that people shouldn’t expect to become expert trackers, but learn the basics of spotting tracks in the wild.
   "The people who understand the art of tracking can see an extraordinary amount that most people just don’t see," Ms. Linder said. "Once you see it, it opens up your eyes to a hidden world. So, the goal here is to give people a little bit of training, not turn anybody into a tracker, that takes year of practice."
   Registration for the event is required. Ms. Linder said that there are only about 10 spots left for the tracking event, and people interested should contact her at (609) 683-0483. However, if there is an overwhelming response to the program, Ms. Linder said she would try to get more trackers down to help teach the program and expand the class.
   In addition to programs at the park, the Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands helped the township apply for and receive a $12,000 grant, that will be used to prepare applications to get the Mapleton Preserve on the state and national Historic Registers, Ms. Linder said.
   Once on the list, the preserve will be eligible for more grant money to repair the greenhouses, cold storage buildings and other buildings on the site, Ms. Linder said.
   "There are many grants, especially federal grants, out there, but they won’t give you a dime unless you are on the national registry and in this case there’s a big complex that all is part of the cultural landscape that is Princeton Nurseries," Ms. Linder said.
   Anyone interested in volunteering, becoming a member of, or donating to the Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands can do so by visiting its Web site at www.fpnl.org or calling Ms. Linder at (609)-683-0483.