UPPER FREEHOLD: Scouts to plant seedlings

Committee OKs plan for 200 trees

By Jane Meggitt, Special Writer
   UPPER FREEHOLD — Allentown Boy Scout Troop 180 will soon get to work planting seedlings on the township municipal building grounds.
   At the Feb. 21 Township Committee meeting, the governing body voted 4-0 to allow the troop to plant 200 seedlings on its Route 539 property. Committeewoman Lorisue Horsnall Mount was absent.
   Mayor Stan Moslowski Jr. said he was contacted by resident Trish Dorey about the idea. He said the seedlings would be planted in an area at the discretion of the township’s Department of Public Works. He said the seedlings would remain for a two-year period, then they would become the township’s property to do whatever it wanted with them. The seedlings would range between 12 and 18 inches high at planting, and the Scout troop would place wood chips around them, according to Mr. Moslowski.
   ”We could use them in the parks, eventually,” the mayor said.
   Mr. Moslowski said he thought it would be best to plant the seedlings around the borders of the property. He said, in his experience, approximately 50 percent of the seedlings would survive for the two-year period.
   The deadline was approaching to order the trees, so municipal Clerk Dana Tyler texted Ms. Dorey after the vote to tell her she could place the order.
   Ms. Dorey, whose son is in Troop 180, said the idea came to her after reading an article about the New Jersey Tree Foundation giving out free trees in celebration of Arbor Day.
   ”Since one of the stipulations requires that the trees be planted on public land, I reached out to several people in the community to see where we could plant the seedlings,” said Ms. Dorey, who serves on the township’s Planning Board. She said Planning Board chairman John Mele told her this was done in the past and that the township property would be a possibility. She then reached out to Mr. Moslowski.
   ”In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, I thought this would be a great community service project for the boys in celebration of Arbor Day and Earth Day,” she said.
   The 200 seedlings will consist of 25 northern red oak; 75 white pine and 100 eastern redbuds, according to Ms. Tyler.
   In other business, the governing body unanimously approved a resolution allocating $4,495 to replace the municipal court system’s recording equipment. Ms. Tyler said the current recording system uses cassettes and is no longer manufactured.
   ”If we don’t replace it, we can’t hold court,” she said. Ms. Tyler said the $4,495 figure was the lowest quote for a new system, which other boards can also use. The amount includes software and touch-screen monitors, she said.