Month: January 2013

Camden: Certified Sustainable

Beth Kwart Uncategorized

Congrats to the City of Camden and the Camden Green Team for their newly attained certified status under Sustainable Jersey! Through this program, municipalities complete action items and earn points toward their certification. The NJ Tree Foundation is proud to be a member of the Green Team and an active partner in making Camden a green, sustainable, more enjoyable city in which to live.

The Camden Green Team is comprised of city officials, non-profit organizations, and Camden residents. Pictured below, members of the Team and Mayor Dana Redd accept their award from Donna Drewes of Sustainable Jersey.

Welcome, Beth!

Beth Kwart Uncategorized

Tree folks – meet Beth Kwart! She is a new edition to the NJ Tree Foundation, and our first ever grant writer! With her knowledge, expertise, and exceptional writing skills, Beth will help raise funds for our community-based tree planting programs across the state. We are very excited to have her on board!

Prior to her work with the NJ Tree Foundation, Beth was a grant writer for the Center for Family Services in Camden. She is also an alumnus of the AmeriCorps VISTA program, a volunteer with the Surf Rider Foundation, and a graduate of the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Check her out here, inventorying trees in Camden today!

Featured Story: Adam-Paul and Northgate Park

Beth Kwart Just for Fun, Success Stories, Volunteers

Northgate Park is nestled in the North Camden neighborhood, directly across from Molina Elementary School and surrounded on all sides by residential blocks. Over the years, this city park has experienced its ups and downs. In 2010, Jessica of NJTF can remember walking through the park mid-day and feeling nervous. “On that particular day, the only people in the park were getting high. There were no children there.”

But Northgate Park is a glowing example of what can happen when a community takes ownership of a public space. Walking through Northgate Park two weeks ago, Jessica was in awe at the recent improvements of the park. From brightly painted park benches to new playground equipment, the space was truly transformed! Adam-Paul, who grew up in Camden and graduated from Rutgers University in 2009, was one of many volunteers that helped rebuild the park in October of 2012. He was kind enough to share a story with us:

“Northgate park was my childhood park. It was fresh, colorful and a safe haven for the neighborhood. Friendships were created, summer days were cooled with the water fountain. It was a place filled with joy. A local place that my family could walk to in less than 10 minutes. Epic battles of hide-and-go-seek were played there, sometimes lasting more than one day! Every day at Northgate was a daily competition ranging from foot races around the park to pretending to be a gymnast on the monkey bars.

With time, things changed in Camden and you could see it in the park. Children still played there, but the park lacked the necessary upkeep and lost all resemblance of its former self. Paint was faded, and the child-friendly environment I remember vanished. It became a playground for illegal activity. This discouraged children from playing in the park and, if anything, encouraged them to get involved in wrong-doing. Our city was changing for the worst and the children were being effected the most.

In 2012, on a bright sunny day, hundreds of volunteers brought Northgate Park back to life. Leaves were raked, tables received fresh coats of paint, flower beds were built, brand new slides and swings were assembled. All of this done for the children. The day wasn’t bright just from the sun but from all the children smiling ear to ear. Now they have a place to create memories, have friendly competitions and play pistachio checkers (see photo below).”

Park improvements on October 20th, 2012 were led by Bryan Morton of the YMCA of Burlington and Camden Counties and Sarah Bryant of Cooper’s Ferry Partnership, in collaboration with the City of Camden, Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of NJ, the United Way, KaBoom, Save Our Waterfront, and Friends of Northgate Park. Stay tuned for a story on Bryan Morton!

Featured Story: Gloria, North Camden

Beth Kwart Benefits of Trees, Success Stories, Volunteers

Gloria has lived in North Camden her whole life. In 2009, she met Elise and Jess from the NJ Tree Foundation. “I want trees for my block!” Gloria said. Elise handed her a stack of Resident Tree Agreements and explained that Gloria and her neighbors were eligible for free trees so long as they would a) sign for the tree, b) care for the tree for a minimum of 2 years, and c) help plant the tree. Within a day, Gloria collected signatures for 11 street trees to be planted on her block. Wow! What a go-getter!!

In May of 2009, Gloria and her neighbors joined forces with over 75 volunteers to dig holes, plant trees and lay mulch at their tree planting event. Gloria, who is retired, was seen throughout the day with a shovel and a smile. When she needed a break, she would load cold waters into her vehicle and deliver them to volunteers. At one point (and we didn’t get to see how this happened), she ran over a shovel and sent it flying into the air. It fell down onto her car, which was kept in supreme condition, and left a dent! When Jess ran over to see if Gloria was okay, she explained “I’m too excited over these beautiful trees to care that there’s a dent in my car. ”

The tree planting was a success! In just 3 hours, we planted 45 total trees in Gloria’s neighborhood (along her block and two surrounding streets)! This was Jess’s first tree planting on her own, and to this day she still says it was her most memorable.

Gloria later called Jess to express her gratitude. These are the kind of messages a tree planter loves to receive! “I turned onto my street today, and it felt like a whole new block… People are stopping to compliment the trees…” Then, for the real kicker, she went on to say “These trees have restored a new life to my block. A life that was lost long ago, and a life I didn’t think would come back. Thank you so much.”

Gloria went on to receive the Campbell Soup Company’s Unsung Hero Award at their Annual Networking Breakfast in 2010 for her volunteer work with the NJ Tree Foundation. She can be seen often at community meetings, clean ups, tree plantings, and other neighborhood events — or, just outside, sweeping up or sitting under her trees. Gloria, we thank you sincerely for all you do to make Camden a better place. People like you inspire us everyday.

We are celebrating 15 years by giving away 15,000 trees on Arbor Day 2013

Lisa Simms Benefits of Trees, Good Landscaping, Success Stories, Volunteers

This program is closed.

Our Celebrate Arbor Day Program is 15 years old! Since 1999, the NJ Tree Foundation has partnered with hundreds of volunteer groups to plant over 160,000 trees on public lands across the state! We want to make this year the biggest tree planting event ever! We have 15,000 baby trees (1 – 2′ tall) waiting to be planted by volunteers.

The following trees are available this spring: White pine, Bald Cypress, Redbud, Northern red oak, Green ash, Buttonbush

Guidelines: The New Jersey Tree Foundation is offering free two-year-old trees (1’ – 2’ tall) to celebrate Arbor Day 2013 in New Jersey. A variety of evergreen and deciduous trees will be available. Schools, local governments, tree groups, non-profit organizations, scout groups, and any volunteer organization may apply for the free trees. All planting must occur on public lands, be done by volunteers and maintained for two years.

The goals of this project are to:

  1. Use volunteers to plant trees on public lands to Celebrate Arbor Day 2013!; and
  2. Develop partnerships with diverse groups for information and resource sharing, and future projects.

There are many ways the trees can be used to beautify your neighborhood. Trees can be planted in a vacant lot to create an urban forest, planted as a windbreak for a community garden or at a school, planted in a nursery, or trees can be planted randomly throughout a park or cemetery.

It is important to note the following conditions mandated by the New Jersey Tree Foundation:

NEW: Each species comes in a pack of 25 trees. You must order in increments of 25 trees.

  • Trees may be planted only on public land (parks, school grounds, cemeteries, public golf courses, etc.)
  • Trees will be available in late April 2013, and must be planted on/near Arbor Day (April 26, 2013);
  • All groups must maintain trees for a minimum of two years after the trees are received: Providing water, mulch, weeding and pruning;
  • Groups may NOT sell or give away trees;
  • All projects must be done by volunteers;
  • All groups must complete and send an annual report form to the New Jersey Tree Foundation by the required date;

In addition to the above requirements, the New Jersey Tree Foundation requires that each NEW group send at least one member to a Tree Planting Event Training Session held in March 2013. This is a mandatory requirement. Training Schedule

 

 

Congrats to Mike D’Errico

Beth Kwart Just for Fun

The NJ Tree Foundation wants to congratulate Supervising Forester Mike D’Errico on his recent retirement from NJ Community Forestry within the NJDEP. Mike has been a blessing to the state of NJ over his many years of service. Mike, you are truly a best friend to trees! We hope to still see you in 2013.

Above: Mike with Jess of NJTF at the Community Forestry Council meeting in December 2012