Filling the Void--FOHW Restores Donated Land at Herrontown Woods

Across the creek from the Barden, behind some houses, are 7.5 acres that FOHW convinced the town years back to accept as a donation from the Windy Top development on Snowden Lane. We've been thrilled to have this beautiful parcel as part of Herrontown Woods. Much of it is low maintenance, but one compelling reason for acquiring the land, rather than leaving it for the homeowners association to manage, was a massive infestation of wisteria vine. Despite its pretty flowers, the wisteria's rapid growth was becoming a menace, killing trees, spreading into neighbors' yards, creating a monoculture inedible to wildlife that would have continued to expand into Herrontown Woods. 

The town gave us some initial help from the NJ Invasive Species Strike Team, and FOHW has followed up with the sort of persistent effort needed to counter very persistent invasive species. Our super volunteer Bill Jemas has been particularly passionate about taking on the wisteria, cutting its vines and even digging up its roots.

With the wisteria being steadily vanquished, other invasives have predictably moved into the void. FOHW has led volunteer efforts to successfully pull garlic mustard and stiltgrass before they go to seed. One weed left unpulled last year, to our regret, is a native one called pilewort. Good luck with the latin name, Erechtites hieraciifolius. 

It's massive seed production last year has resulted in an equally massive burst of growth this year. Pilewort is an annual, so if we pull it before it goes to seed, we should be able to tame this beast and bring it back into balance.

Volunteer seedlings dug up and potted up from the Barden will help us fill the void with diverse native species that "play well together" rather than seek to dominate.

Princeton Day School volunteer Kavi and our new intern Matt Falleta worked with board member Scott Sillars to shift one area from pilewort to less rambunctious native wildflowers. We surround the new plantings with fencing to protect them from the deer.

Now comes the watering, and more pulling of the pilewort. If all goes well, a wisteria monoculture will ultimately be replaced by an open woodland with diverse native understory. 

New Self-Guided "Tour of Trees" Launched at Herrontown Woods

Take a walk around the Barden or Veblen House and Cottage at Herrontown Woods, and you may notice some new labels on some of the trees. There are 38 of these professional-grade labels thus far, each with a QR code that takes you to information on the Friends of Herrontown Woods website about the tree. 

This wonderful addition to Herrontown Woods would not have happened but for the generosity and organizational and technical abilities of Alastair Binnie, whose recent retirement has afforded him time to pursue this community project. 

Inga Reich, who is now Princeton's open space manager, also has helped, researching and writing the tree descriptions. Assistance also came from FOHW's webmaster Nicole Bergman and mapmaker Alison Carver.

Herrontown Woods has long been called an arboretum, but only now is it moving towards living up to that description, with 26 native and nonnative species labeled thus far. Though labeling is limited to the "cultural zone" of the preserve, there are now more than 300 tagged trees along the trails, 57 species total, with the identity of each tagged tree available on the website.

Alastair announced the completion of the labeling at FOHW's Veblen Birthday Bash on Sunday, June 30, celebrating the birthdays of Elizabeth and Oswald Veblen, whose donation created Herrontown Woods in 1957. In this 50th year since Elizabeth passed, I'm thinking the Veblens would be delighted with such a birthday gift.