First phase of reforestation plan begins
By Doug Carman, Staff Writer
EAST WINDSOR – A Jackson contractor is in the process of planting 4,400 trees at three different spots near Etra Lake, including one large area that will soon become East Windsor’s newest public park, Mayor Janice Mironov said.
Laborers with Down to Earth Landscaping were busy plunking down the ash, maple, oak and other trees native to the area Wednesday near the area informally called the Disbrow Hill playing field, across the street from Etra Lake Park. The 20-acre field, where nearly 3,400 of the trees will be planted, will be part of a 59-acre park slated to open late in the summer.
The park will include two softball fields, two multi-purpose playing fields and benches. Boy Scouts previously erected a scoreboard in the middle of the fields.
A rough parking lot was already built.
”This used to be Twin Rivers Drive,” said Bill Askenstedt, East Windsor’s Director of Public Works as he walked over it. The recycled pavement was torn from Twin Rivers Drive during the resurfacing work on that street.
The trees that were being planted were the first phase in a reforestation plan to replace the trees felled during the New Jersey Turnpike 6-9 Widening Project. East Windsor lost more than 80 acres of trees in the project.
The remaining 1,000 trees will be split between two small areas near a boarded-up two-story home referred to as the Suty Property, located on the shore of Etra Lake, near a walking path off of Milford Road. The remaining trees will be planted behind a hedgerow across from the Suty Property.
The town awarded a $923,000 contract in 2009 to Freehold-based Precise Construction to build the playing fields, which was funded by state and county grants. The contract on the tree work amounts to $572,000, covered by a $1.3 million payment from the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.
Mayor Mironov said the town is currently planning the second phase of its reforestation project and is trying to identify potential areas to plant new trees, though she specifically mentioned properties off of Old York Road as possible locations. She said they’re taking suggestions from the public.

