Dead Trees To Be Cut Down By End of Summer

If you drive along scenic Middletown Road, between Bayonet Farm and the Village Elementary School, you will notice a number of old, gnarly black locust trees tied with orange ribbons. 

They are dead trees that have to be taken down. Step on the gas!

Last October the Shade Tree Commission identified the trees that need to be removed in upcoming months. A $7,000 federal grant has been obtained by the Commission to pay for their removal, by Atlantic Tree Service of Lincroft, hopefully, before the end of summer. 

“Before they come down on school buses and people,” said Commission chair Jenni Blumenthal.

The avowed lover of trees declared no love for these particular ones, with their deeply furrowed bark. Yes, the tree has some qualities: The black locust wood burns slowly and is prized for firewood for wood burning stoves. It is not extremely hard. A fun fact, according to Wikipedia, "As a young man, Abraham Lincoln spent much of his time splitting rails and fence posts from black locust logs."

Blumenthal is not impressed. “They make a mess. Nobody would ever plant them. They just naturally occurred.” 

The Shade Tree Commission applied and received the $7,000 grant through the Community Stewardship Incentive Program, administered by the NJ Forest Service’s Community Forestry Program. The source of their funds was provided the 2009 federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).