Residents Challenge Pine Plan, Question Borough Advisors’ Expertise

AVALON – A long-simmering controversy over the Borough of Avalon’s commitment to environmental concerns, especially with regard to island trees, came to a rapid boil at Council’s May 25 meeting.
Caught in the middle was the borough’s environmental consultant, Joseph Lomax.
At issue this time is a borough plan to remove Japanese black pine trees from the back dune area along pedestrian walkways.  State Department of Environmental (DEP) officials, in particular James Dunn, had inspected the impacted area of the dunes looking for, and supposedly finding, trees infected with a Southern Pine Beetle infestation. The borough was encouraged to apply for a state grant worth about $24,000 to help with the removal of the black pine trees along pathways through the dunes.
Lomax agreed with the interpretation concerning the Southern Pine Beetle infestation and his firm developed the plan for tree removal in the areas adjacent to the dune paths. Lomax admits that he concurred that Japanese black pine trees were infected and that many of the trees along the area now singled out for removal represented a public safety threat.
He also calls attention to the borough’s recently reestablished and approved Forestry Management Plan and its component part, the Dune Vegetation Management Plan. In these plans, he notes, the Japanese black pine is clearly designated as a non-native species, invasive and threatening to the native habitat. This was an opportunity to reduce the dominance of this species of tree in the dunes and prepare the area to be reclaimed by indigenous plants.
A group of concerned citizens, many of whom have opposed other borough environmental actions, used the public comment period of this week’s council meeting to criticize the borough’s intended actions on the black pine trees and to excoriate Lomax as both unqualified and self-interested when it came to the issue of the black pines.
Six different residents took to the microphone to express their concerns over the borough’s intended action. The most important speaker, however, was not a resident, but rather someone the residents brought to the meeting to offer expert testimony.
Mark Demitroff was introduced as someone the residents had located and invited to the borough. Demitroff is president of Buckhorn Garden Services Inc., a geographic consultancy and is also a certified tree expert in the state of New Jersey.
The New Jersey Board of Tree Experts defines a certified tree expert as “a person who has been examined and proven to be competent in the science and art of diagnosing, treating and preventing tree injuries.”
Resident Martha Wright told the council that no member of Lomax Consulting is a certified tree expert. She also said members of the state forestry service and DEP who inspected the area of infestation concern were not certified tree experts including Dunn. The lack of that expertise involved in this proposed action invalidated the plan in the eyes of these opponents. They urged council not to move ahead without the input from a certified tree expert.
For his part, Demitroff, who has a PhD from the University of Delaware in Geography, admitted that he had made no study of the trees in the impacted area. He took “a walkthrough of about an hour,” he said, “staying to the paths open to the public.”
Demitroff’s message was that there is no known infestation of Japanese black pine trees by the Southern Pine Beetle. He raised doubts that the infestation cited was one of the causes of the planned action. He did acknowledge that a different beetle problem may be impacting the trees.
Demitroff also urged council to move very cautiously on any removal of these trees since they were so important to the integrity of the dunes.  He went so far as to warn council that a variety of factors puts Avalon and this part of southern New Jersey at risk for “sinking into the ocean” at  “twice the rate of the rest of the world.” His warning was that all due deliberation should be taken before doing anything that might harm the protection provided by the borough’s dunes.
Demitroff went on to claim that the Japanese black pine is a species of tree that presents far less fire potential than council has been led to believe. He concluded that the trees, infested or not, are not the safety hazard council may have been told they are.
Lomax, contacted after the meeting which he did not attend, focused on the narrow qualification of a tree expert when considering the broad issues involved in an ecological plan of which the Japanese black pine was a part. Lomax also said he was trained in etymology and agreed with state officials on the nature of the beetle infestation.
Lomax took issue with any intimation that the planned action would undermine the integrity of the dunes. He explained that all of the designated work was intended for the back dunes which sit behind about 1,000 feet of beach, foredunes, primary dunes and wetlands.  “Language that suggests we would be compromising the integrity of the dunes is unfortunate,” he said.
According to Lomax, if council does nothing the trees designated for removal will die anyway. He sees dealing with the infestation as part of an immediate issue of public safety, but also as part of the longer-term plan of reducing the dominance of the Japanese black pine in the dunes and its denial of good growth areas for indigenous species.
Wright also reminded council that this year was the centennial of the Migratory Bird Act passed in 1916. This act committed the United States, and its partner countries, Canada and Mexico, to protection of the environment important to annual bird migrations. For Wright and her fellow opponents of the planned dune actions, these trees are part of an important habitat for migratory birds.
Lomax says that the birds do not use the black pine for nesting and that the best way to celebrate the Migratory Bird Act is to restore the indigenous species of flora to the maritime forest areas.
At every turn council was confronted with contradictory advice on the science behind the proposed tree project. Wright went so far as to say that accepting the grant from the state was a fraudulent act since the science says that the infestation is not the result of the specific beetle targeted in the grant. She even warned council that their action could “open the borough up to litigation.”
Assistant Business Administrator James Waldron summarized the council plight when he said council members would have to decide “which expert opinion you choose to follow.” 
A distraction from the debate on science was a strong sense on the part of borough officials and council members that the opposition to the impending actions had turned personal. Comments appeared, especially to Waldron and Council Vice President Nancy Hudanich, to impugn the integrity of officials who support the action. Accusations of fraud and misrepresentation were resented and may have taken away from the main message. Lomax was accused of supporting the planned actions with the black pines because of the prospect of monetary gain.
Elaine Scattergood, a long-time Avalon resident, pleaded with council to “in good conscience listen to us.” Frank McLaughlin urged council to do nothing that would “speed up the dunes’ demise.”
The challenge to council was not one easily dealt with. On the one hand, council has impending actions that appear consistent with its long-term environmental plans. They have a grant offered by a state agency for a specific purpose which officials of that agency say are met by the area of tree infestation. They also have a long-time environmental consultant who helped craft their forestry and dune plans agreeing that the planned action should be pursued.
On the other hand, they have a group of concerned residents who firmly believe the action is misguided at best. These residents have gone the root of challenging the science underlying the planned action.  They have also challenged the expertise of the science advisors the borough has been relying on.
Business Administrator Scott Wahl responded to a request for comment the day after the meeting.
“The Borough of Avalon has a long history of science-based, successful management of its dune system and our Maritime Forest. The borough will continue its practice of proactively addressing the environmental and ecological integrity of the forest while engaging the evaluation and opinions of professionals who we believe have the necessary knowledge and expertise.”
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.