Tree commission steps out of the shade
Many trees along

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Metuchen residents have long enjoyed Amboy Avenue’s sycamores, but the Shade Tree Commission says most of the trees will die within 10 to 20 years.

Amboy Ave. reaching the end of their life spans

BY BRYAN SABELLA

Staff Writer

To hear Colleen Hines tell it, most borough residents have no idea the Metuchen Shade Tree Commission even exists.

Most residents also have no idea that the towering sycamores that greet visitors entering town from Amboy Avenue and North Main Street are almost all roughly 80 years old, and that those trees have a life span of between 80 and 90 years.

If something isn’t done soon, borough residents may not have the canopy to take for granted within the next 10 to 20 years.

"We won’t look like Metuchen," Hines said.

Hoping to get a jump on the replacement process, in May the commission, responsible for the regulation, planting and care of shade and ornamental trees on borough property, will be planting about 35 10-year-old sycamores in the spaces between existing ones on Amboy Avenue. Another handful will be planted on North Main.

In addition to Hines, a stay at home mom, the commission consists of Chairman Richard Miller, a landscape architect, Lisa Dacey, a school psychologist, Mike Babos, an environmental engineer, and another landscape architect in George Fromm. Each serves without compensation for a three-year term. The commission’s borough council liaison is Richard Dyas.

Hines said she, Fromm, Babos and Dacey each oversee tree issues in a particular quadrant of town, responding to calls from residents about everything from possibly dangerous limbs to evaluations of a tree’s overall health.

One problem that pops up fre­quently is the improper pruning of trees. Hines says haphazard jobs have resulted in trees that are, at best, eyesores, and at worst, dying. Part of the problem stems from resi­dents taking matters into their own hands rather than employing quali­fied personnel.

Hines said most people also don’t know that trees within 10 to 12 feet of the curb are borough property and cannot be pruned or cut down without express permission. Viola­tors face a $1,000 fine.

But it’s not just borough trees the commission cares about. Hines takes pains to point out that it isn’t just the homeowner who has a vested interest in the trees on his or her property.

"People who have large trees on their property think of them as ‘their’ trees, but they’re really ‘our’ trees," she said.

Hank Bruno, who Hines calls "Metuchen’s most famous senior cit­izen," would certainly concur. He has a long history with the bor­ough’s trees, given that he and his father, Lucien, planted the vast majority of the trees that greet visi­tors to the borough along every main artery other than Route 27.

"The trees were planted not for ourselves, but for future genera­tions," he said.

Lucien Bruno planted most of the sycamores himself in the 1920s.

In the 1950s, Hank planted the callery pear trees that line Main Street’s business district. He said that while digging, he eventually came to a remnant of the past — a layer of coal ash from past residen­t’s ovens. Over the years, Hank planted dozens more elms, oaks and maples throughout the town.

"I used to be able to tell you where you lived by you telling me what kind of tree you had in front of your house," Bruno said.

While now a resident of Piscat­away, Bruno spent most of his life on the same piece of land on South Main Street that his family pur­chased in 1911.

"At one point, we had more trees than people. I get great satisfaction from driving around town and see­ing the trees I’ve planted," he said.

The commission’s main thrust is the preservation and planting of large shade trees like oaks, London planes (sycamores) and beech trees.

"People like to plant ornamen­tals," such as birch and smaller maple varieties, Hines said, but noted that those trees have more problems with infestation and dis­ease, and have significantly shorter life spans.

Hines offered a few basic tips for residents to preserve and prolong the life of a tree: do not mulch more than a 1-inch layer around a tree’s base so as to avoid encouraging rot resulting from trapped moisture, water trees during droughts, keep up with proper pruning and trim­ming procedures, and have regular checks for mushroom fungus and insect infestations.

Hines said the commission’s an­nual budget is $12,000 — not much when compared to most other towns around the state, and far from enough to keep up with mainte­nance of existing trees and planting of new ones. As a result, the commis­sion has a backlog of calls from citi­zens requesting evaluations, main­tenance and plantings, although "most people don’t even know you can request a planting."

In fact, Hines said, the commis­sion’s low budget is the only thing keeping the borough from qualify­ing as a "Tree City" as designated by the National Arbor Day Founda­tion and the United States Forest Service. The designation renders a municipality eligible for various support programs and grants. In or­der to be so classified, a community must have a forestry program with a budget of at least $2 per capita.

"We are currently half that," Hines said. "We hope to someday get there."

For now, she’s cooking up differ­ent ways to elicit community awareness and support.

"I’m working hard to get the schools involved," in Arbor Day plantings and educational pro­grams, Hines said. She’s hoping that if the kids get interested, the parents will follow. On April 30 (Arbor Day) the commission planted a northern red oak, the New Jersey state tree, at the high school.

She’s also targeting retailers like Home Depot, hoping to line up dis­counts and/or donations.

"To keep our town visually ap­pealing we need to plant now, for our children and grandchildren to enjoy large trees like we have now."

Residents can reach the Shade Tree Commission at (732) 632-8540.