19-20 Annual Report

Annual Report July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020

The New Jersey Tree Foundation is a statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to planting trees in New Jersey's most urban neighborhoods, where the need is greatest. Through tree planting, volunteerism and partnerships, we assist numerous communities in improving their environment and quality of life.

Urban Airshed Reforestation Program Camden and Gloucester City have cleaner air and a greener environment due to 133 new, beautiful trees.

30 volunteers planted trees along the park’s fenceline. One resident, Rhonda Bennett, a teacher at Gloucester City High School, lives near the park and received a street tree in front of her home. Rhonda invited Life Skills students from her high school to help plant the trees. Rhonda had this to say of her experience receiving a tree and the planting at Shane Chapman Memorial Park: “I would like to thank the NJ Tree Foundation for providing some of our students with the opportunity to step out of the classroom to acquire hands-on experience within a park of our own. Our students are better able to understand the importance of trees and the impact they have on the environment.”

Volunteers with the tree they planted together in Gateway Park.

During the fall, we partnered with land preservation nonprofit NJ Conservation Foundation to plant 150 trees at Gateway Park. Once the site of gas stations and seedy motels, Gateway park has been transformed into a beautiful urban park that allows residents access to the Cooper River and safe biking trails heading into Camden and Pennsauken Township. The NJ Conservation Foundation bought the trees, and volunteers from Wells Fargo, Ahmadiyya Movement, NJ Americorps Watershed Ambassadors Program, Bartlett Tree Experts, Rutgers Camden and others came out to plant the trees. We are proud to have worked alongside NJ Conservation Foundation to help establish a new wooded buffer which will protect the Cooper River.

Continuing Education in Gloucester City Gloucester City received not one, but two tree planting events this fall! We focused on trees in areas surrounding the Circuit Trail, a vast 800 mile network of trails spanning from Philadelphia into Camden, Gloucester City, and surrounding suburbs. Shane Chapman Memorial Park sits next to a proposed trail cutting through the eastern part of the city. In October,

Long-time NJTF friend Jackie Santiago-Vincent prunes a tree she helped to plant in North Camden.

Honoring MLK’s Legacy Through Service On January 20th the nation celebrated Martin Luther King Day, a day of service and reflection. That day the NJ Tree Foundation held its first “pruning party” of 2020 with longtime community partner and friend Jackie Santiago-Vincente.

Jackie rallied students from Mastery High School and Rutgers Camden. Braving the bitter cold, students pruned dead, diseased, and damaged branches on ten North Camden trees.

Tree Foundation staff were on hand to demonstrate proper pruning techniques and to guide volunteers as they worked.

The newly pruned trees will benefit long term from this maintenance, and will grow properly. Jackie has worked with the NJ Tree Foundation in the past to plant several trees along 3rd, Erie and Byron streets. Jackie has also spent the last several years cleaning up abandoned lots and planting small gardens around North Camden. As a thank you for all their hard work, each Mastery High School student received tickets to the Aquarium, courtesy of the Center for Aquatic Sciences.

Urban Airshed Reforestation Program FY 19-20 Planted 133 trees & maintained 74 trees with 668

volunteers who contributed 1,231 hours of service, $31,331 in volunteer labor and $2,550 of in-kind support!

Renaissance Trees Program The Renaissance Trees Program planted 149 trees in Newark, Jersey City, Atlantic City and Delran.

Trenton TreeKeepers Nine Trentonians attended our first TreeKeepers training in Trenton where they learned about tree planting, identification, and maintenance. These workshops are free to residents and tree recipients, and attendees leave with educational materials and hand tools to care for their trees. The workshop was hosted with Isles, and included a special presentation from the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission on Trenton’s urban forest. Residents voiced their opinions about Trenton’s current forestry practices, and made a number of suggestions on what changes they would like to see and what issues they find most important in their city.

Mt. Zion church will pop with color in spring from these stunning redbud trees.

Jake’s Place volunteers pose with their newly planted tree.

Jake’s Place The Renaissance Trees Program held a special planting at the Jake’s Place playground in Delran. Jake’s Place is an all-inclusive playground built so that children of all abilities have a safe space to play together. Shade and protection from harmful UV rays are important for everyone, but especially so for those taking medications that require limited sun exposure. Trees provide shade so that kids can enjoy the playground even on hot, sunny days. Students from the Burlington County Special Services district helped - they use the playground since their school doesn’t have one. The students were particularly excited to plant trees at a place where they will be able to visit and watch them grow.

Mt. Zion Baptist Church Ten redbud trees will bring a vibrant pop of spring color to the Mt. Zion Baptist church in Newark. The Renaissance Trees Program planted trees several years ago across the street from the church, and with this planting we’ve created a beautiful, tree-lined street! Volunteers from Rutgers, Newark Street Squash, and One Tree Planted came out to help with this fun street tree planting.

TD Tree Days In Fall 2019 we partnered with TD Bank and the Arbor Day Foundation to host three tree plantings as part of the TD Tree Days program. Plantings happened at West Side Park in Newark, Oscar E. McClinton Waterfront Park in Atlantic City, and Liberty State Park in Jersey City. Altogether, 98 trees were planted across the three parks with the help of 105 TD Bank volunteers. The trees were planted along walking paths and near benches, providing beauty and shade to those using the park for exercise or relaxation. Bob Greene, Atlantic City Shade Tree Committee, said that the planting at Oscar E. McClinton Park was “a great example of teamwork between the state, county, city, and volunteers giving back so we can improve the aesthetics of the park with trees and create clean air that we can’t live without.”

Renaissance Trees Program FY 19-20 Planted 149 trees with 325 volunteers who contributed 774

hours of service, $20,073 in volunteer labor and $1,750 of in-kind support!

Green Streets After a busy fall tree planting season we shut down our Green Streets program for the spring season due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The NY-NJ region was hit early and hard and it only made sense to be cautious. In May 2020, after securing a PPP loan, we re-hired our fall crewmen fulltime to help us maintain our 9/11 Grove of Remembrance.

Reforestation project in Madison. Callery pear & Russian olive were removed & native trees planted.

Green Streets crew planting a tree in Old Bridge.

Fall 2019 was filled with tree planting contracts, both large and small. Our fall crew - Tim, Larry and Jermaine - planted 537 trees in ten towns, reforested a habitat in Madison, and excavated a huge rain garden in Gloucester City. In Madison the crew reforested an area cleared of invasive trees and shrubs by planting 105 tree whips, and they planted an understory of shrubs to compliment the trees at Drumthwacket.

At Belcher Ogden House in Elizabeth, the crew cleared English ivy to make way for a living fence planting, and in Woodbridge they continued to plant trees to mitigate local flooding.

The crew also assisted program staff with TD Tree Day plantings in Atlantic City, Newark and Jersey City.

In May 2020 we re-hired Larry and Tim who had been layed off from their jobs due to the New Jersey shut-down. Both men worked fulltime with our staff to help maintain our 9/11 Living Memorial - A Grove of Remembrance. Planted in 2003, the list of Grove maintenance tasks had grown long and varied. In general we are able to annually mulch the planting beds and prune the trees. The understory of shrubs and perennials are rarely pruned and maintained. This year we had the time and hands to work through the 11 acre site

Green Streets crew and program staff completed a street tree pruning contract just days before the state shut-down.

and accomplish understory maintenance. As the PPP loan began to wind down, both Tim and Larry were re-hired by their previous employers, and as much as we miss them, we are glad they are gainfully employed. For the Green Streets program the pandemic actually created opportunities - jobs for former crewmen and time - time to tackle work that is always there but never quite a priority.

Tim mulching trees, shrubs & perennials in our 9/11 Memorial - A Grove of Remembrance.

Green Streets Program FY 19-20 Planted 537 trees in ten towns, generating $125,951 in

revenue from planting and maintenance contracts.

Serving the Community During the Global Pandemic distributed to the community. The donations include everything from frozen chicken to cough drops. These sundries are important to families in Camden, many of whom have lost jobs or have had their income reduced because of the pandemic. The NJ Tree Foundation was grateful for the opportunity to serve Camden families during this challenging time.

Like so many across the country, the NJ Tree Foundation was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In an abundance of caution, the Tree Foundation postponed all spring 2020 tree planting events. One of the things that kept us busy was volunteering in the community. Whether it was making lunches for a local community center, gleaning, or handing out masks, staff did what they could to help. During April, May, and June, the NJ Tree Foundation teamed up with Mastery High School, Camden Lutheran Housing Inc, and Philabundance, to serve the needs of the community in North Camden. Once a month, Philabundance drops off food donations to be

Educational Newsletter Unable to hold tree plantings with volunteers this spring, we still wanted to stay connected with our dedicated volunteers.

One of the ways we stayed in touch with residents & friends was through a weekly educational newsletter, sent out to those interested in learning more about trees. Each week covered a different topic, with several articles on more, in-depth subtopics contained in each newsletter. Topics included invasive species, spring and summer tree care tasks, tree pests and diseases, and environmental benefits of trees. The articles were also posted to our blog, so even those not receiving our weekly email could read more about tree topics they were interested in. While a pandemic may have kept us out of the field this spring, it didn’t stop us from learning and teaching others about trees!

Landscape Scale Restoration Project - Enhanced tree pit demonstration As part of a larger community forestry project, the Tree Foundation is creating enhanced tree pits in three cities - Camden, Gloucester City and Trenton. Enhanced tree pits are larger than the standard 4’x4’ tree pit, removed concrete is broken into small chunks, mixed with stone and used as a retaining basin at the bottom of a three foot deep pit. The existing soil may be mixed with sand and compost and added to the remaining two feet of the tree pit, allowing for increased stormwater retention. In Gloucester City, 22 volunteers planted 10 trees, native shrubs and sedge grasses in enhanced tree pits.

In addition to the stormwater benefits, the Lindens, Cherries, and Crape Myrtles will provide clean air, shade, and food for wildlife and pollinators. These pits, as well as the trees planted in them, will help to reduce the amount of stormwater entering the system and mitigate flood risk. What was once a barren block has been transformed into one filled with color and life!

Top: An enhanced tree pit planted with native trees & shrubs. Left & right: Before trees and after the planting of enhanced tree pits in Gloucester City.

Donors

Tributes

Partners & In-kind Donors

Anonymous Kristin Ace Philip Arrigo Robert Bartosz Lynn Block Barbara Bour Meredith Brown Greg Casagrande Fozan Ehmedi, Cousin’s Supermarket Jenna Firshein Marilyn Fishman John Flora Frank Gallagher Cindy Gittleman Rose Gordon Robert Graham Wiebke Hinsch David Hoy Carolyn Jacoby Lyle Jensen Robert Jonas Jay Kaplan Barry Klieger Boris Kofman Rich Largman Claire Laskoski Corey Lilliston Elena López Dr. Melanie McDermott Scott McElhone Mike Medea, Medea Landscape Margaret Middaugh Caroline Mishoe-Sweeney Dr. Christopher Obropta Michelle Padula Sunny Patel Barbara Patrizzi Edward Ramirez-Wright Meghan Ryan Val Ryan Elizabeth Salerno Janine Schaeffer Dan Schulglasser Alison Shames Michael Sheehan Bonnie Simms Lisa Simms Arjun Swamy Adrienne Terpak Carole Tonks Julie Tozer Lenny Ward Thomas C. Williams Libbie A. Wills Fran and Ellen Zinni Pam and Bill Zipse

Robert Butterhof in memory of John C. Mazetis, Jr.

Ahmadiyya Movement Americorps NJ Watershed Ambassador Program Americorps VISTA Atlantic City Atlantic City Shade Tree Commission Bartlett Tree Experts Berkshire-Hathaway Home Services Bob the Gardener BRS, Inc Build Jake’s Place Burlington County Special Services School District Camden City Department of Public Works Camden Co. Municipal Utilities Authority Camden Lutheran Housing Block Supporters Initiative Camden PrintWorks Camden Shade Tree Advisory Board Center for Aquatic Sciences Cherry Hill Twp. City of Camden City of Newark City of Trenton CMS Rowan University Data Processing Display Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission Englewood Garden Club Essex County Master Gardeners First Baptist Church of Gloucester City Forest Hill Community Association Forest Resources Education Center Gloucester City Green Team Gloucester City High School Gloucester City Shade Tree Board Gloucester City Water & Sewer Dept.

Isles, Inc. Liberty State Park Mastery High School Middlesex County College New Jersey American Water New Jersey Conservation Foundation Newark Dept. of Public Works Newark Street Squash NJ Community Forestry Program NJ Conservation Foundation NJ Dept. of Env. Protection NJ Shade Tree Federation NJ Urban and Community Forestry NJTF Board of Trustees Old Bridge Old Bridge Dept. of Public Works Omega Phi Chi One Tree Planted PowerCorps Camden PSE&G RCE Water Resources Program

Lisa Simms in memory of Frankie Pink Nose Mr. and Mrs. James Salerno in memory of Thomas Salerno Donna Massa in Memory of PattiSue Massa Denise Carleton in memory of Eileen Pfleger Chris Chamberlin in honor of Alex Marcoulides Emilio Vastola in memory of Mr. Clive George Riley Nancy and Michael McKay in memory of Mr. Carl Hauck Meghan Hyer in memory of Akili Lynn Gordon Susan Wessel in honor of Crystal Wessel Gail Maurer in honor of Ms. Becky Braymer Dr. Mickey and Gerry Appleman in memory of Dr. Brigit Ball Cindy Barbera-Brelle & Christine Simms in memory of Wayne Simms & Bill Brelle

Grantors & Corporate Sponsors Amazon Smile Arbor Day Foundation Atlantic City Community Fund Camden Co. Soil Conservation District Camden Lutheran Housing, Inc. Farr Forestry Services FHCA, Inc. Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Henry E. Niles Foundation IBM Employee Charitable Campaign Johnson & Johnson MKM Foundation Network for Good NJ Employees Charitable Campaign One Tree Planted PayPal Rutgers Cooperative Extension Sierra Club West Jersey Chapter Target Circle TD Bank The Watershed Institute US Small Business Association USDA Forest Service USDA Forest Service, Landscape Scale Restoration William Penn Foundation

Partners & In-kind Donors, cont.

Residents of 3rd & Byron Streets Residents of the 900 block of Monmouth Street in Gloucester City Romero Center Rowan University Cooper Medical School Roy H Gordon Law RUC School of Nursing Rutgers Camden Rutgers Honors College Rutgers Pre-med Society Rutgers Urban Forestry Program South Jersey Land & Water Trust TD Bank Temple University The Garden Club of NJ The Work Group University of Delaware Watershed Ambassadors Wells Fargo West Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club WFA Wild Birds Unlimited Wildwood Crest

New Jersey Tree Foundation 576 Leesville Road Jackson, NJ 08527 www.njtrees.org Social Media: @NJTrees

Board of Trustees Jay Kaplan - President Robert Bartosz William Comery Cory Lilliston Peggy Middaugh Mark Franz - Treasurer Lenny Ward Pam Zipse - Secretary

Staff Lisa Simms, Executive Director Meredith Brown, Urban Airshed Reforestation Program Director James Cunningham, Urban Forestry Technician Beth Kwart, Development Coordinator

Thank You Volunteers!

NEW JERSEY TREE FOUNDATION STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 2020

SUPPORT AND REVENUE: Government Grants Corporation and Foundation Grants General Support and Contributions Contracts and Service Revenue Contributions - Gifts In-Kind Other income Net Assets released from restrictions

Unrestricted

Temporarily Restricted

Total

$

$ 142,429 314,270 (456,699)

$ 142,429 380,770 81,279 131,262 17,500 8,086 $ 761,326

66,500 81,279 131,262 17,500 8,086 456,699

TOTAL SUPPORT AND REVENUE

$ 761,326

$

-

EXPENSES: Trees and Plant Materials Shipping and Freight Landscaping and Concrete Educational Materials & Programming Planting Tools & Field Supplies Uniforms Cell Phones Salaries and Wages Payroll Taxes Payroll Processing Website Staff Training Insurance Printing Professional Fees Computer Expenses Trucks & Trailer Expenses Staff Travel to Worksites Office Supplies and Expenses Food - for Workshops & Programs Pass-thru Grants Depreciation Outside services Miscellaneous In-kind Contributions

Program Services $ 78,041 5,654 28,771 1,106 11,647 43 2,558 237,798 22,128 3,289 1,006 593 40,123 6,977 618 2,908 13,275 7,502 581 3,466 33,100 22,322 951 299 17,000

General & Administrative $ 43,287 4,028 599 4,934 291 10,354 1,250 565 65 -

TOTAL EXPENSES

$ 551,347

$

66,489

Total $

$

78,041 5,654 28,771 1,106 11,647 43 2,558 281,085 26,156 3,888 1,006 593 45,057 7,268 10,972 4,150 13,275 8,067 646 3,466 33,100 22,322 951 299 17,000 617,836