Events 2011

Martin Luther King Day of Service Cleanup, Monday January  17, 2011 

Despite 10 inches of snow on the ground and a chilly temperature of 25 degrees, a record 45 volunteers turned out to serve their community at this annual Kingston event. Three different youth groups joined the effort this year, including Cadette Girl Scouts from South Brunswick Troop 80014, high school students from St. Charles Borromeo Parish of Skillman, and volunteers from the St. Ann’s Youth Ministry in Lawrenceville. The groups took on three key tasks – picking up litter from the 53 acres of the Mapleton Preserve, attacking a stand of invasive bamboo, and removing a shroud of grapevines, honeysuckle and multiflora rose from a row of flowering trees that had been covered by these invasive vines.


Arbor Day Celebration, Saturday, April 16th

It was a rainy, chilly day, but a spirited group enjoyed a “behind the scenes” walking tour of Mapleton Nurseries, led by owner David Reed and planted a redbud in the Mapleton Preserve afterwards!


More about Dave Reed and Mapleton Nurseries

National Public Land Day, September 24th

Twenty energetic volunteers gave their all to this stewardship effort in the Mapleton Preserve! Crews cleared brush and vines, removed small trees from building peripheries, weeded the butterfly garden, and collected litter in the Preserve and along Mapleton Road. Participants worked hard, but kept on smiling!

 Over the River and through the Woods–Thanksgiving Day Nature Walk, November 24th

FPNL president Karen Linder led a Thanksgiving Day morning exploration of the Mapleton Preserve. We observed what items were on Mother Nature’s Thanksgiving buffet and which creatures find them savory.  We learned about turkeys, too–although we didn’t see any!