Event at Veblen House Highlights Need to Preserve Old Growth Forest

On Sept. 24, the Friends of Herrontown Woods hosted a talk by Joan Maloof, author most recently of  Treepedia: A Brief Compendium of Arboreal Lore. The event was sponsored by the Princeton Environmental Film Festival, whose 2021 online programming begins Oct 12 and runs for two weeks.

From Joan Maloof's talk, it was clear that her deepest passion is for saving old growth forests. She founded the Old Growth Forest Network, which is seeking to save old growth in every county of the nation. She is seeking county coordinators to explore their respective counties for the best example of old growth forest. It's not clear whether Mercer County has one as yet.

Mentioned during the talk was the great value of the 90 acre Landwin tract, which borders Herrontown Woods to the north and is currently threatened with development. The Ridgeview Conservancy is leading efforts to save that forest.

A close look at the photograph will reveal that the Veblen House site has become a place not only for the community to gather, but also is now something of a community chair orphanage, where chairs abandoned curbside in Princeton can find a new home and continue their service to humanity.