Boro one step closer to 'Tree City' status
State DEP approves five-year plan to manage tree inventory
BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer

RED BANK - Since April, the Borough Shade Tree Committee has been working hard on the first year of a five-year plan.

The plan was submitted to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in April, and has since been approved by the state.

The plan consisted of an informal inventory of borough trees, which found that between 75 to 80 percent of borough trees are in fair to good condition. The plan also calls for a more extensive survey to take place in the future.

The Community Forestry Management Plan was prepared by Stephen M. Chisholm Jr., a New Jersey certified tree expert, in cooperation with the Shade Tree Committee.

"This plan is designed to demonstrate the manner in which the borough of Red Bank currently manages the community tree resources under its jurisdiction including trees in parks, right of ways, along streets and around borough buildings and other holdings," according to the plan presented to the Borough Council in the spring by committee member Boris Kofman. "This plan will also outline how Red Bank intends to further improve this system over the next five years."

According to the goals and objectives of the plan, the borough will look to introduce new species of trees and shrubbery that will provide for long-term coverage of public lands, parks and recreation areas.

Now that the plan has been accepted by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), it will be presented to the Borough Planning Board for incorporation into the borough's master plan, Kofman said in an interview Tuesday.

"There is no date set yet," he said, "but we're pretty well along in meeting our 2006 objectives."

Some of the objectives for 2006 include dividing the borough into five management zones and initiating a five-year cycle of hazard pruning and maintenance. The hazard assessment will be carried out by the borough's public works department, the committee, the borough arborist and a hired consultant.

"We finished the inventory of zone one," said Kofman, "which is east of Spring Street, and counted 200 trees and 150 potential places for new plantings."

Also, the plan calls for the establishment of a street tree inventory and working with the schools in the borough to begin annual Arbor Day celebrations, the first of which took place at the Red Bank Middle School in April.

"We've been working really hard," said Kofman.

"A complete survey," according to the plan, "should cover all municipal right of ways, plus all parks and public buildings in the borough."

A preliminary windshield survey performed between January and April 2005, which covered 15.4 miles of borough roads (about 75 percent of road miles in the borough), determined that about 12 percent of the trees in the sampled area posed a greater than average risk of structural failure due to defective or dead limbs, trunks or root flares.

One of the goals of the committee is to achieve Tree City USA status over the next five years.

Tree City USA status is granted to municipalities that effectively manage their public tree resources and encourage the implementation of community tree management based on four criteria, according to the DEP Web site.

The criteria required for Tree City USA status includes the creation of an official tree board or department charged by ordinance to develop and administer a comprehensive tree program, the existence of a tree ordinance, a tree management program supported by a $2 per capita per year budget, and an official Arbor Day ceremony and proclamation, according to the DEP Web site.

Kofman said that he hopes the borough will qualify as a Tree City after it applies for the status at the end of the year.

"I think we have met the three requirements," he said.

Kofman said that the committee will inventory one zone per year over the next four years and that the information gathered using a geographic information system (GIS) will be made available to the public.

"We're just trying to figure out the best way to do that," he said.