By Alex Parker-Magyar for New Jersey Hills Media Group

A Florham Park man has created a short film documenting the beauty of the Drew University Forest Preserve in Madison – and the destruction he says will follow should the university decide to execute a plan to sell parts of the forest to a housing developer.

The university is considering having parts of the forest rezoned for housing and sold to a builder to help mitigate its ongoing financial troubles. The plan has drawn widespread opposition from students, alumni and area residents, whose Save the Drew Forest advocacy campaign recently drew the curiosity of Florham Park resident Bill Lynch.

Lynch, a filmmaker, was inspired to visit the preserve for the first time after seeing the ubiquitous, bright blue Save the Drew Forest lawn signs around Madison. He brought his camera with him.

“I made a film to document both the beauty and serenity of the forest, as well as to show what would happen if we do not take action to preserve the forest,” he told the Madison Borough Council at a Monday, June 13 council meeting.

“While I was in the forest there were students there, perhaps some learning how to prevent climate change, how to protect our underground water resources. There were people hiking there, birders, there were people walking their dogs. It’s a beautiful place – but it needs to be preserved.”

Madison officials are seeking to arrange a conservation sale to preserve the forest by working with the university and environmental groups. The borough increased its open space tax in November in part to begin raising additional money to match any grants received for the project from the state, county or nonprofit groups.

Lynch spoke Monday of the value of natural spaces like the Drew Forest or the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge nearby. He said he sees the loss of forest everywhere in Florham Park, as woods are torn down to make way for new development.

“The Great Swamp didn’t just happen on its own,” he noted, “people had to work to make it happen. I know that the Friends of Drew Forest are working really hard in the town, along with the council and the mayor and other residents who are concerned. I just wanted you all to know that beyond your community, we also are concerned.”

Lynch’s video, which can be viewed online at www.friendsofthedrewforest.com, is titled “The Legacy of Drew Forest.”

He said the meaning of the word “legacy” is significant, particularly in the academic world, “where legacy means long-term commitment: What will you leave for the next generation?”

“So I ask you, mayor and council, to consider your legacy,” he said. “Consider what you will leave behind when you’re no longer serving the [borough] and what we will be leaving for future generations.”

Drew Student,

Residents Speak

Lynch was not the only forest advocate to speak at the Madison Borough Council meeting. For more than a year, residents have used the forum to speak on the ecological, educational and cultural value of the preserve.

The Friends of the Drew Forest advocacy group, the authors of the Save the Drew Forest campaign, have ensured that at least one person has spoken about the forest at every council meeting since spring 2021.

Rachel Papa, a Drew student who co-authored a widely circulated student petition to save the preserve, spoke Monday. She said the forest has been the “one positive constant” for her in a college career upended by pandemic shutdowns.

The forest both attracted her to the university and allowed her numerous opportunities as a student, she said, from research in a geology course to inspiration in nature writing and photography courses.

“I also enjoy the forest for its leisure purposes, as on my first day back to campus after a year home due to Covid, friends and I went for a walk within the arboretum,” she said. “These experiences have positively impacted my learning as a student and will be memories I cherish forever when looking back on college.”

Papa reiterated criticisms of university leadership that students previously shared at a council meeting and in a letter to the editor of this newspaper.

She said the university has been opaque in sharing details about its plans in response to student government demands requesting specific information in writing about the potential forest sale and a map of the specific lands in question.

The university has yet to meet those demands, she said, and a student town hall hosted by Interim Drew University President Thomas Schwarz in April was lacking in answers. She said she appreciates the support the borough has provided in contrast to the university.

“I wanted to speak on this further, as it is so crucial with where we are in the summer and there not being many students on campus to advocate for this and while the president is transitioning out of the university.”

Schwarz’s contract at the university runs through the end of the 2022-2023 school year.

Also speaking at the meeting was Madison Environmental Commission Chair Claire Whitcomb, who spoke of the success of the lawn sign campaign and of the Friends of the Drew Forest’s “hundreds and hundreds of conversations” with residents at events over the past few weekends.

Barbara Hughes, a resident of Glenwild Road who lives next door to the preserve, spoke of the forest’s value in soaking up rainwater following storms.

Madison Mayor Robert Conley thanked the four speakers for their advocacy on the issue. He encouraged people to watch Lynch’s film at www.friendsofthedrewforest.com.

Noting Madison is currently investigating funding opportunities for a potential conservation sale, he said the Borough Council is “committed to doing everything possible, and then some,” to save the forest.

That process will require creative thinking, he said, and is made easier by the consistent public advocacy.

“Stayed tuned and keep it coming,” he said.