Today, DEP forestry experts work to ensure the health of New Jersey’s woodlands, important to many New Jersey residents for recreation and solitude. This was a time when much of New Jersey’s woodlands had been cleared for farming, logging, charcoal production, and firewood. It’s especially popular with landowners in northern New Jersey, which is part of the range in which it does really well.”īut for all the different ways people are using trees today, the process for gathering the acorns to planting them has not changed much since the nursery got involved in reforestation efforts in 1907 with the goal or rebuilding New Jersey’s forest resources. “The northern red oak is definitely the most popular because it’s our state tree. People seem to have a strong connection to them because of their stately beauty, habitat values, and historic importance in helping build New Jersey, said Susan Pontoriero, a forestry technician at the nursery since 1978. While the nursery grows a large variety of hardwoods and conifers for reforestation efforts, the oaks are among the most popular. The nursery, located in the northern Pinelands of Ocean County, sells trees to property owners who are planting them around their homes to reduce heating and cooling costs, to prevent erosion, to abate traffic noise, to serve as protective windbreaks – and simply because they value trees. In this way, they will be helping thousands of people make connections to the land and to the environment they cherish. They also will be sold at production cost to property owners, environmental groups, civic groups and other state and federal agencies for reforestation efforts, both small-scale and large-scale. In less than a year, the oak saplings grown from the acorns collected this fall will be used to reforest state lands that have lost trees to insect infestations, disease and overgrazing by deer. “The trees that will sprout from these acorns will be planted in virtually every type of setting you can imagine – from cities like Newark to woods such as the pine-oak forest around the nursery that have been hit by gypsy moths in recent years,” said Joe Battersby, the nursery’s superintendent. At the Department of Environmental Protection's Forest Nursery in Jackson, foresters and staff are hard at work collecting and sorting this year’s acorn crop in preparation for growing the next generation of oaks – trees that one day will spread shade, oxygen, and beauty across New Jersey. TRENTON – Squirrels aren’t the only ones focused on acorns this fall. ACORN SEASON HIGHLIGHTS DEP’S COMMITMENT TO FOREST HEALTH
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