VENTNOR – The city has listened to environmental advocates of the Ventnor Green Team and is addressing its urban canopy and has the support of Mayor Tim Kriebel.
The city applied for and has been awarded a grant from the NJ Urban and Community Forestry Program to investigate its street trees, some of which have been lost during construction projects or are in poor condition.
The city was awarded a $20,000 grant to complete a comprehensive inventory of approximately 2,000 trees lining city streets. The project also includes an update of the city’s current Community Forestry Management Plan, which is due to expire at the end of 2025. Having an updated plan will allow the city to create new goals for assessing the health of the urban canopy and planting new trees.
According to grant consultant Jim Rutala of Rutala Associates of Linwood, the city wants to plant more street trees in the right-of-way, especially in the commercial districts along Ventnor and Dorset avenues.
The benefits of street trees to the environment are many, including cleaning the air and water, preventing erosion, moderating temperatures, reducing energy costs, and buffering noise and light pollution. Statistics show that street trees stimulate economic development, increase shopping about 12%, increase property values 10-20%, relieve stress, improve health and even reduce crime and domestic violence.
Having an updated management plan is a pre-requisite to obtaining additional grants for tree planting projects. The CFMP also reduces liability associated with problematic or unhealthy trees, which could cause property damage if they blow over in storms.
The program will address four strategies: Plant, Protect, Maintain and Remove, Rutala advised city administration.
“The CFMP will include a recommended annual work plan and projected budget,” he wrote in a memorandum to City Administrator Tom Ciccarone in August.
Upon notification that it had been awarded the grant, the city issued a request for proposals from qualified forestry experts and on Thursday, Sept. 11 awarded a $25,000 contract to Davey Resource Group, LLC to conduct a comprehensive computerized street tree inventory and update the city’s current CFMP. The inventory will cost $20,000 and the plan update $5,000. The grant requires the city to provide a $5,000 cash match to the grant.
“This will help us get grants to improve our treescape,” Kriebel said.
Davey plans to start the inventory in October and complete it by November. The process includes sending out a team of arborists to inspect street trees and record their location, species, size and condition and make recommendations for removal, pruning or regular maintenance.
“Having an arborist do it is very helpful,” Rutala said.
Members of the green team, Department of Public Works and those interested in arboriculture will obtain specialized training during the upcoming NJ Shade Tree Federation Conference being held Oct. 16-17 at Harrah’s Resort and Conference Center in Atlantic City.
Work on the CFMP will be initiated in December and be completed by January 2026.
Rutala said the inventory will be done on Ventnor Avenue first and the information gleaned from the inventory will be used to apply for a NJ Department of Environmental Protect Natural Climate Solutions grant. Any future plantings will include proper tree selection. Rutala said both Margate and Atlantic City have a list of tree species appropriate for planting in the Absecon Island marine environment.
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