To the Editor:
“It’s like a town in a beautiful forest!” That’s what a first-time visitor from Switzerland told me one morning in about 1975 as I showed him around Princeton. In the half-century since then, Princeton’s “forest” has become far less beautiful (and healthy) due to such harmful phenomena as climate change (drought, floods, heat); other human-caused insults (air and water pollution, overbuilding, and erratic clearing, planting, and pruning); and “competition” (invasive vines, wood-damaging animals, and destructive insects).
Indeed, in 2026, most of the woods in central New Jersey look — one word — ravaged. Hence, I was glad to read the Town Topics article (January 7, page 1) headlined “Princeton Approves Five-Year Forestry Plan While Tightening Tree Removal Regulations.” Preserving beauty is a laudable part of the plan’s purpose. So, too, is protecting the well-being of the many living things — from plants to people — that make Princeton home.