Woodbine Hosts County Pick-up for State Foresty Recovery Program

WOODBINE – Woodbine’s intrepid Green Team braved weather that turned to snow to hand out trees to Woodbine residents under the Community Gazebo at the Woodbine Bikepath April 9, the third day of Woodbine’s tree-related activities under the New Jersey Tree Recovery Campaign.
Green Team Chair (and Councilman) Dave Bennett reports: All trees were distributed. Tree species provided this year were tulip poplar, paw paw, bald cypress, and black walnut.
“I thank Green Team members Karen Kosten-Williams and Diana Marra, and Diana’s daughter Taylor, who with Dave turned out in very inhospitable weather for a very successful tree-giveaway,” added Mayor Pikolycky.
Earlier in the week, the Borough of Woodbine again celebrated  its special “Arbor Day” role in our County as it  served for a third consecutive year as the Cape May County drop-off site for free tree seedlings to be distributed under the New Jersey Tree Recovery Campaign.
Bundles of trees were dropped off by Vernon Stover and Johnny Knapp of the New Jersey Fire Service, who gave the State Forestry Services a hand by offloading our county’s trees at Mays Landing and trucking them into Woodbine, April 7, labeled as to their intended communities throughout the area.
April 8, Public Works employees from several Cape May County Municipalities (and one in Cumberland) came into Woodbine to pick-up their bundled trees. (Avalon: 1000; Dennis: 2000, Downe from Cumberland: 2000; Middle: 500, Upper: 1000; West Cape May: 250—making the Forestry people grateful to have Woodbine as their one-stop local drop-off site.)
“Alec McCartney of the Forestry service informed us that: “More trees were distributed in Cape May County (7,000) with Atlantic County only requesting 3,300, those being the first two counties scheduled in this year’s tree distribution,” noted Mayor Pikolycky.
The goal of the Tree Recovery Campaign is to distribute over 500,000 tree seedlings to New Jersey residents over the course of five years. It is a joint effort between the New Jersey State Forestry Services, New Jersey Soil Conservation Districts, Sustainable Jersey, and the Arbor Day Foundation, Brothers International, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Wyndham Vacation Resorts, and FedEx.
“On a more personal note, Green Team member Lisa Fisher’s mother-in-law Ruth, Cape May County’s preeminent environmentalist, was laid to rest on Saturday, and Lisa had asked us to all “plant a tree’ in Ruth’s honor, making this year’s event all the more both poignant and relevant, ” commented Mayor Pikolycky.