Middle School Students Spend Time with Dr. Patricia Shanley from Ridgeview Conservancy
Ridgeview Conservancy, one of our wonderful ecology partners, is located just across the street from Princeton Montessori School. In October we were delighted to welcome Dr. Patricia Shanley, of the Ridgeview Conservancy to our campus. Dr. Shanley has thirty years of experience researching the value of forests for local livelihoods and integrating traditional knowledge with science to empower rural communities in Amazonia. She spent ten years as a research Scientist in Indonesia. She is the Associate Director of Woods & Wayside International and a Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Dr. Shannley also directs a Princeton-based forest stewardship program training youth to conserve and manage native species in temperate forests.
Quite a force of nature, Dr. Shanley identified the trees on campus with the Middle School students and discussed the value of trees and forests. She spoke about the importance of caring for our trees to help withstand the twin threats of climate change and biodiversity loss. Building on this work, Mr. Juleff will deepen students’ knowledge of both local and exotic forests over the coming weeks. 
PRESERVING FORESTS & WETLANDS
Since 2009, members of Ridgeview Conservancy have led a neighborhood effort to conserve and steward vulnerable tracts of forests and wetlands on the environmentally sensitive Princeton Ridge. In partnership with property owners, land trusts, conservation organizations, and Princeton municipality, the Conservancy has worked to secure conservation easements and to acquire properties with forest and wetland habitats under threat. Once protected, the Conservancy manages these sites for conservation and recreational use by the public. This involves the removal of invasive species, restoration of native plant habitats, creation and maintenance of accessible trails, and linkage of these trails to other sections of Princeton’s Emerald Necklace.
Our proximity to this history and the link to Ridgeview Woods Preserve makes Montessori distinct as its students can be on the cutting edge of saving habitats for endangered species.
