AVALON — The Borough of Avalon and the Avalon Garden Club held the community’s annual Arbor Day event on Fri. morning, April 25 at the Judy Groff Community Garden located at 67th Street and Dune Drive. The event featured the planting of a new tree at the Garden along with a major award delivered to Mayor Martin Pagliughi for the Borough’s leadership with a major environmental initiative.
“Organizations like the Avalon Garden Club are comprised of local volunteers who are truly the fabric of our community”, Mayor Pagliughi said during remarks at the Arbor Day ceremony. “I want to thank the Avalon Garden Club for being partners of the Borough in many environmental and beautification projects in our neighborhoods”.
The ceremony featured the planting of a new Chanticleer Pear Tree at the Judy Groff Community Garden. The tree is commonly known as the “Select” or “Cleveland Select” ornamental pear. It fits easily in medium and large yards or gardens and maintains its attractiveness throughout the year. It is oval in shape and widest where the branches begin. The Chanticleer Pear stands between 25-35 feet in height and during the summer, the tree is covered with glossy, deep green leaves.
The celebration also included a major award being delivered to the Borough of Avalon by Joseph Lomax of the Lomax Consulting Group in Cape May Court House, NJ. Lomax delivered a 2014 Honor Award to the Borough of Avalon and the Avalon Environmental Commission from the American Society of Landscape Architects as the top environmental enhancement project. The award was presented to recognize Avalon’s innovative Dune Vegetation Management Plan which protects and enhances the Borough’s unique maritime forest in the high dune region of the community.
Avalon and the Lomax Consulting Group designed a community program to replace invasive Japanese Black Pine trees in the dunes with native species between 74th Street and 75th Street where a pilot of the Plan was enacted. Authorization for the program followed public meetings and reports to document the need for the dune restoration plan review and approval by the Avalon Environmental Commission, so long as predetermined safeguards and highly specific design standards were adhered to. Only the invasive pines were eligible for removal and replacement with native plants; all existing indigenous vegetation remained in place.
For additional information, please visit www.avalonboro.net.