The Peapack Gladstone Environmental Commission is reviewing the Village Street Tree Inventory prepared by Paul Cowie Associates and made possible by a Community Stewardship Incentive Grant. We would like to share some of the more interesting data in that report.
There have been 802 trees inventoried in the village area of which 412 trees are between 0″- 12″ caliper, 307 trees are between 13″- 30″ caliper and 81 trees are greater than 30″ caliper.
There is an interesting variety of species composition :
| Count | Common Name | Count | Common Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| 134 | Sugar Maples | 16 | Red Maple |
| 142 | Norway Maples | 16 | Honey Locust |
| 68 | Norway Spruce | 13 | Douglas fir |
| 52 | Black Walnut | 9 | American Sycamore |
| 34 | Colorado Spruce | 23 | Callery Pear |
| 30 | Hemlock | 21 | Flowering Dogwood |
| 24 | White Pine | 17 | Flowering Cherry |
| 18 | Little leaf Linden | 13 | Crabapple |
The remaining species vary from native black cherry, green and white ash, gray birch, red cedar and mulberry which tell a story of our town’s agricultural heritage.
Of the total trees inventoried, 206 were found to be in good condition, 391 in fair condition, 143 in poor condition, and 8 on their way to compost.
Those figures comprise 88.5% tree cover with only 10.5% vacant planting sites and 1% stump removal sites.
52.5% of our street trees do not conflict with utility wires.
This data is very important to determine how to protect our tree resources in the future. While we may have good forest cover, many of our trees are in a state of decline. The Environmental Commission has been charged with the protection and replacement of these resources. To that end, we have created a Tree Sub-Committee within our Commission that needs your help. One of the projects we continue to work on is a Tree Ordinance, and while we are already half way there, we cannot do it alone. If you are interested, please contact us through the Borough Clerk’s office.
