Watershed Association Helps Bernardsville Map Shade Trees

Communities across the nation recognize that a healthy and expanding tree canopy improves the quality of life for their residents. In addition to making streets, neighborhoods, parks and commercial areas more attractive and improving property values, shade trees lower energy costs as they help keep homes and other buildings cool in summer months. They provide privacy, emphasize views, and screen out objectionable views. They improve air quality by removing dust and other particulates and by absorbing carbon dioxide and giving off oxygen. They buffer high winds, absorb and filter stormwater runoff and stabilize soil. They provide food and shelter to native wildlife.

The Bernardsville Shade Tree Advisory Committee was created several decades ago by the Borough Council, whose members understood the value of the community forest long before it became fashionable to “go green”. The committee has been working ever since to promote effective stewardship of shade trees.

As part of the team now working to help Bernardsville achieve certification through Sustainable JerseyTM, the committee is responsible for recommending a municipal Tree Canopy Goal with a defined, measurable outcome in relation to historic data. Unfortunately, the committee did not have the type of data necessary to begin developing such a goal, so it turned to the Upper Raritan Watershed Association (URWA) for assistance.

URWA has been utilizing computer-based Geographic Information System technology to create, edit, analyze, manage and display spatial data for nearly two decades. The organization frequently works with municipalities, private landowners and conservation groups to analyze scientific data and produce maps to help them protect and preserve important natural resources.

For the Bernardsville tree canopy project, URWA’s GIS Director Melissa Mitchell provided an analysis of twenty years of data from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Land Use-Land Cover files. Ms. Mitchell then used the information to generate maps that depict the forest cover that existed in Bernardsville in 1986, 1995 and 2002. These “snapshots” and the data from which they were created have given the Shade Tree Advisory Committee the tools it needs to craft a goal for the expansion of tree canopy and measure progress toward the goal over time. Louis Matlack, the committee member who secured the pro bono assistance from URWA, has drafted a goal statement that will be considered when the committee meets on March 18th.