Greening New Jersey, one tree at a time.
Jessica Franzini, Senior Program Director for the NJ Tree Foundation, spoke with Jill Horner of Comcast Newsmakers on September 23rd, 2015. Jessica talked to Jill about why we plant trees, work we completed over the summer with our Green Streets Crew in Camden, and exciting upcoming planting events, including an event in Gloucester City.
Enjoy the interview!
September 18, 2015 – New Jersey – The New Jersey Tree Foundation’s Renaissance Trees Program began its tree planting season on Thursday September 10th with a 20 tree event in Jersey City. The New Jersey Tree Foundation’s Urban Airshed Reforestation Program’s season will begin on Saturday, September 19th by planting 20 trees in North Camden. This fall, the New Jersey Tree Foundation will plant over 400 trees in urban communities with help from city 
residents and volunteers.
“The goal of our Programs are two-fold,” explains NJ Tree Foundation Senior Program Director Jessica Franzini. “We seek to improve the local environment while empowering and uniting the community through tree planting. The work of our Programs revitalizes neighborhoods and city environments.”
The programs she speaks of are the NJ Tree Foundation’s Urban Airshed Reforestation Program and Renaissance Trees Program. The former plants trees in urban communities in southern New Jersey, mainly in Camden, while the later does the same in northern New Jersey, mainly in the City of Newark.
“The Renaissance Trees Program has worked in Newark since 2006 to plant more than 2,200 trees and the Urban Airshed Reforestation Program has planted 5,565 in Camden since 2002,” said NJ Tree Foundation Program Director Elena López. “Recently, we have begun to expand our work beyond Newark and Camden. Most cities in New Jersey lack a healthy tree canopy, so there is a lot of opportunity for us to help.”
Trees are an important part of a city’s infrastructure. They assist with stormwater management and improve air and water quality. They also offer a number of social benefits. Trees provide shade for residents to relax outside in front of their homes, add beauty and nature to cities, increase property values, and some tree species provide fresh fruit. The NJ Tree Foundation has seen trees unite neighbors as its community-based tree planting events are initiated by local residents.
“Any resident of Camden or Newark can apply to us to receive a free street tree,” Franzini explains, “And anyone that doesn’t mind getting dirty can help us by volunteering to plant trees. We plant rain or shine so sometimes it can get messy but it is always a lot of fun.”
During the fall of 2015, the New Jersey Tree Foundation will host nine planting events in Camden, five in Newark, two in Jersey City, and one in Gloucester City. Volunteers and media are invited to attend the planting events. Please RSVP in advance to Jessica Franzini for Camden/Gloucester City events, jfranzini.njtf@gmail.com or (856) 287-4488 and to Elena López, elopez@njtreefoundation.org or (609) 439-1755 for Newark/Jersey City events.
Events are held rain or shine. Come dressed for the weather in clothes suitable for getting dirty and wear closed-toe shoes. The NJ Tree Foundation will provide all tools needed for planting. A meeting location and directions will be provided upon RSVP.
Thanks to a $10,000 donation from Keep America Beautiful/Lowe’s grant, The NJ Tree Foundation planted 20 trees, 19 shrubs, and 100 perennials creating 5 microhabitats and beautifying Columbia Park in Jersey City, NJ on September 10. Jersey City Department of Parks and Forestry helped grind out some stumps, and the Columbia Park Greenville Memorial Inc. Association helped coordinate the project. Jersey City Councilwoman-at-Large, Joyce Watterman, addressed the volunteers thanking them and the Tree Foundation for their service to Jersey City. Despite the rain, nine hard-working Lowe’s Heroes employee volunteers came to dig, plant, and mulch in the park. To read more about our work in the park, check out this article or view these photos.
Check out video coverage of the event.
Jersey City, NJ (September 9, 2015)– The NJ Tree Foundation and Keep Jersey City Beautiful announced that Lowe’s has awarded a $10,000 grant to help make Jersey City a clean, green and a more beautiful place to live. Tree planting to take place Thursday September 10, 9AM -12 noon in Columbia Park.
The Keep America Beautiful/Lowe’s grant provides funding for the Columbia Park reforestation project, to be completed on September 10, 2015 with the assistance of local Lowe’s Heroes employee volunteers. This project will plant perennials, shrubs, and 20 trees that are at least 10 feet tall in Columbia Park. Certified Tree Experts recently evaluated Columbia Park. This project will plant all of the new trees in the park’s Tree Maintenance Plan as recommended by the Certified Tree Experts. The project will also create five microhabitats, with shrubs and perennials surrounding trees to provide food and shelter for birds, butterflies, and other wildlife.
“We are thankful for the support from Keep America Beautiful/Lowe’s to implement this much needed project. Our trees suffered greatly during Hurricane Sandy and other extreme storms. This grant will allow us to plant new trees, shrubs, and perennials to bring more beauty into Columbia Park,” said Mr. Doug Carlucci, Aide to the Mayor. “We are fortunate to work with the NJ Tree Foundation to complete this work as they have over 15 years experience implementing similar projects,” Mr. Carlucci added.
“The NJ Tree Foundation is very excited for the Columbia Park project. Trees are an important resource as they mitigate air pollution and a
bsorb stormwater to reduce flooding,” explained Elena López, Program Director for the NJ Tree Foundation.
The Columbia Park project grant is one of 50 merit-based grants awarded nationally by Lowe’s to community-based affiliates of Keep America Beautiful in support of grassroots service projects ranging from restoring neighborhood parks and planting community gardens to leading disaster restoration initiatives and large-scale cleanups.
“We take great pride in the work we do with Keep America Beautiful to improve the health of our communities,” said Joan Higginbotham, Lowe’s director of community relations. “We look forward to inspiring more people to join us so that we can continue to make our communities better places to live.”
Keep America Beautiful affiliates and partnering organizations received nearly 245 Lowe’s grants the past three years. Through this partnership, nearly 1 million flowers and bulbs have been planted; more than 225 playgrounds and recreational areas have been built or revitalized; and more than 1,000 community gardens have been planted.
Over the course of the partnership, Keep America Beautiful and Lowe’s have brought together more than 40,000 volunteers and 1,000 Lowe’s Heroes. Together, they’ve contributed 196,000 volunteer hours to improve their respective communities.
Lowe’s also provides support as a national sponsor of Keep America Beautiful’s flagship program, the Great American Cleanup, which takes place in 20,000 communities from coast to coast. This national program engages on average 4 million volunteers and participants who take action to create positive change and lasting impact.