Princeton Montessori middle school students took a field trip to the Sourland Mountain via Hopewell Borough this past Monday. Guided by the Sourland Conservancy staff, the morning started with a trip to the Foraging Forest in Hopewell Borough Park, where students learned about climate change, edible plants, invasive species, and more. Afterwards, they got their hands dirty planting native trees and shrubs to provide critical habitat for birds, pollinators, and other native species.
Sourland Conservancy Stewardship Director Robert Aluck taught the students about the benefit of forest restoration on stream health. Then the students engaged in a stream monitoring activity where they identified macroinvertebrates to assess water quality. After lunch, they traveled to the nearby Cedar Ridge Preserve where they participated in a hike led by historian, Ian Burrow. They calculated the age of trees and studied various aspects of the human history of the preserve.
