Historical Recollections of the Rogers Refuge
The Charles H. Rogers Wildlife Refuge is located along Stony Brook on West Drive off Alexander Street, bordering the Institute for Advanced Study woods in Princeton, New Jersey. the old buildings on the property were built when Princeton had its own water company, and this was the physical plant. Birders called it “the pumping station” and discovered interesting birds in the wetland.
Mr. Rogers said it was a shame when Tom Southerland told him about the dumping of construction fill in the marsh during the winter of 1967. Tom went to a Princeton Township Open Space Committee meeting to alert them of the dumping, and was promptly made a member of the committee. That got the ball rolling. Other members Jim Sayen and Tom Cook, Esq. were very helpful and they went with Tom Southerland to meet with Borough Mayor Henry Patterson. He was the perfect person to alert, as the Princeton Water Company was owned by the Patterson family.
The refuge was originally called the Princeton Wildlife Refuge when it was created in 1968 by what is now the Princeton Environmental Commission through a conservation easement. That easement was renewed in 1978 by the Elizabethtown Water Company, who had purchased the Princeton waterworks and land, and Princeton Township, grantee of record.
The rest is history. The name was changed from Princeton Wildlife Refuge to the Charles H. Rogers Wildlife Refuge after Rogers’ death in 1977. Tom Southerland, Township Council member Tom Poole, and local birder Tom Gopsill were active in maintaining and protecting the refuge during its early years. The construction debris was removed or overgrown, houses for Purple Martins and Wood Ducks were built, and a bird list and maps were created. In the 1980s and 1990s the Institute Woods and Rogers Refuge were on the state’s birding map as one of the best places to see warblers, and Ray Blicharz showed wintering Saw Whet owls to many visitors as well.
But by 2008 Fred and Winnie Spar, who enjoyed birding at the Refuge, noticed that the infrastructure was getting worn out, and that interpretive and directional signage had largely disappeared. They gathered a group that became the Friends of Rogers Refuge, which included Margot and Tom Southerland, Tom Poole, Steve Hiltner, Ludmilla Wightman, MaryMargaret Halsey, Hannah Suthers, Lee and Melinda Varian, Arlene Oley, Laurie Larson, and others. Fred spearheaded grant applications and alliances with other non-profits and individuals. He also found a home for FORR under the auspices of the Friends of Princeton Open Space (FOPOS), a group which was formed to preserve the Institute Woods as a whole. Many improvements have been made since then, including new observation towers, a bird blind, trail development, interpretive signs, an environmental inventory, Phragmites and other invasive plant control work, and new birdhouses, among other things.
Today the Refuge is maintained by the town of Princeton, with support from New Jersey American Water and the Friends of the Rogers Refuge. It has also benefited from the support of a number of organizations, including the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which supports Phragmites control, and the Washington Crossing Audubon Society, which provided grants to help fund development of plans for better habitat management and observation areas. Their support is gratefully acknowledged. Since Fred Spar’s death, much of the hardest work of management has been carried by Lee and Melinda Varian, and survival of the refuge for future generations seems well assured.