Spring Lake Shade Tree Committee

09/17/2026

Our favorite arborist, Bill Brash, has been in town evaluating some of our right-of-way trees for removal.
Unfortunately, this Sweet Gum is compromised and will need to come down.
We are able to support this tree removal project with funding from the New Jersey Forest Service. Spring Lake was awarded $25,000 from a $250,000 Municipal Tree Maintenance Grant supporting pruning and tree removal projects.
As much as we dislike removing trees, we know it is best for the overall health of our tree stock and the safety of our residents and visitors.
Fortunately, we will be launching our spring planting in the next few weeks.

Stay tuned! 🌳🌳🌳

09/04/2026

Today's Spotlight: The Comeback Kid

The American Elm was once one of the most familiar trees in towns across America. Its tall, arching branches created beautiful canopies over streets, parks and public spaces.

Then came Dutch elm disease, which devastated American Elm populations across the country.

Fortunately, that wasn't the end of the American Elm.

Meet the Valley Forge Elm.

Released by the U.S. National Arboretum in 1995, the Valley Forge was selected for its high tolerance to Dutch elm disease and has also shown strong resistance to elm leaf beetle. In 1996, it was selected for planting on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol.

And now we have four of them right here in Spring Lake.

To commemorate America's 250th anniversary, we planted four Valley Forge Elms at the Spring Lake Community House.

They're small now, but given time, they should develop the graceful, arching canopy that made the American Elm such an important part of the American landscape.

That's quite a comeback.

And one we hope Spring Lake residents will be enjoying for generations to come.

🌳 CANOPY 2050

Protecting, growing and maintaining Spring Lake's tree canopy for generations to come.

08/22/2026

Today’s Spotlight: Spring Lake's VIP Tree

If Spring Lake handed out a Tree of the Year Award...

This tree would win.

Every.
Single.
Year.

It shows up early.
Works through heat waves.
Never complains about summer traffic.
Provides shade exactly where we need it most.

And somehow manages to appear in thousands of Spring Lake photos without ever asking for credit.

Meet the London Plane.

You may know it as “that tree that looks like a Sycamore.”

Its distinctive, camouflage-like bark is one of its trademarks, and while it is often mistaken for a Sycamore, the London Plane has become one of Spring Lake’s signature street trees.

Our 2025 Right-of-Way Tree Inventory counted 871 London Planes, making it the most common street tree in town.

So the next time you’re enjoying a shady walk, bike ride, or slightly cooler spot on a hot summer afternoon...

Look up.

You may be standing beneath one of Spring Lake’s hardest workers.

🌳 CANOPY 2050
Protecting, growing and maintaining Spring Lake’s tree canopy for generations to come.

08/03/2026

Being in a city where stress-levels are high, trees help bring a sense of calm. In fact, they can relieve stress and benefit mental health by lowering blood pressure! Growing trees in Boston means a happier and more enjoyable city for all. 💚

Learn more about the benefits of urban trees and tree equity here: https://treeboston.org/tree-equity-maps/

08/03/2026

Spring Lake has been having quite a summer. 😎

Our beaches & boardwalk has been packed.

Sunrises, sunsets, croissants and ice cream cones are filling our camera rolls.

Our beautiful homes are turning heads.

Downtown is bustling.

There's even a waitlist for a swing at Divine Park.

Meanwhile...

Some of Spring Lake's biggest stars have been quietly doing what they've always done.

🌳 Providing shade on hot afternoons.

🌳 Cleaning the air we breathe.

🌳 Welcoming songbirds.

🌳 Making every walk, bike ride, and drive through town a little more beautiful.

Our trees 🌳 🌳🌳.

They don't ask for much.

Just a little water, a little care and every now and then, a little appreciation. 👏👏👏

So follow along as we put a few of them in the spotlight.

You'll meet Spring Lake's hardest worker.

Its biggest show-offs.

Some gentle giants.

A gracious host.

And even a remarkable comeback story.

We think you'll appreciate the trees lining our tree lined curbs and shading our parks have personalities all their own.

Please like, follow and share as we introduce some of the special trees that make Spring Lake...Spring Lake ❤️

🌳 CANOPY 2050

07/24/2026

The New Jersey Forest Service today awarded $250,000 in Municipal Tree Maintenance Grants to 10 municipalities to support tree pruning and removal projects that reduce public safety risks while improving the health and resilience of urban and community forests.

The funding will support projects identified through existing tree inventories and risk assessments.

The following municipalities were awarded grants:

🌳 Belmar, Monmouth County – $25,000
🌳 Berkeley Heights, Union County – $25,000
🌳 Cape May, Cape May County – $25,000
🌳 Cranford, Union County – $25,000
🌳 Fair Haven, Monmouth County – $25,000
🌳 Jersey City, Hudson County – $25,000
🌳 Lumberton, Burlington County – $25,000
🌳 Moorestown, Burlington County – $25,000
🌳 Princeton, Mercer County – $25,000
🌳 Spring Lake, Monmouth County – $25,000

Each municipality will provide a 25% match, which may consist of cash or in-kind contributions.

The grant opportunity was launched on Arbor Day earlier this year funded through a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture's Forest Service.

Municipalities are invited to apply for the New Jersey Forest Service's Green Communities Grant, which supports the development of Community Forest Management Plans to assess local tree resources and guide maintenance priorities. For more information visit: https://dep.nj.gov/parksandforests/conservation/grants/

Properly maintaining New Jersey's urban and community forests helps protect public safety, improves air and water quality, reduces urban heat, and enhances the quality of life for residents. Learn more about the New Jersey Forest Service’s Urban & Community Forestry Program by visiting: http://communityforestry.nj.gov

07/17/2026

Here is a quick demonstration showing how easy it is to fill a gator watering bag.
Gator bags provide slow, deep watering that our newly planted trees need to establish healthy root systems, especially during this dry hot weather.
If you are the lucky recipient of a newly planted tree in front of your home we encourage you to keep the gator bags filled. It's a simple way to support the health of Spring Lake's newest trees.
Every tree we help establish today contributes to the beautiful canopy that will shade Spring Lake for generations to come.
Thank you to our DPW team for caring for our trees, and all of our residents who are helping to Plant it Forward!

07/09/2026

We couldn't agree more. The benefits of incorporating native plants into your landscape are multifaceted, encompassing science, thoughtful planning, resource conservation, longevity, and resilience in the face of extreme weather conditions. The SLSTC's plantings and future plans prioritize native trees and shrubs, inspired by leaders like Doug Tallamy who demonstrates that using native plants should be the foundation of sustainable landscaping practices.

The native plant movement gets a lot right, but there’s so much more to consider.

06/18/2026

A young tree is not a mature tree in a smaller size. It's a completely different system — and almost everything a tree does for your yard, your neighborhood, and the species living in it grows with age. 🌳

The gap between a newly planted sapling and a mature tree isn't a few years of patience. For most of what we value in trees, it's closer to a factor of a thousand.

What scales with age:

Shade and cooling: a mature tree can transpire well over 100 gallons of water per day, cooling the air around it through evaporation. Its canopy shades hundreds of square feet. A newly planted tree does a fraction of a percent of this.

Wildlife habitat: the older a tree gets, the more complex its structure becomes — rough bark for insects, cavities for cavity-nesting birds, high branches for raptors, leaf litter for ground beetles. Research from the USDA Forest Service and university extension programs consistently documents that older trees support far more species than young trees of the same species, because the habitat features that wildlife depend on take decades to develop.

Carbon storage: a common misconception is that young trees capture carbon faster than old ones. Young trees do grow quickly relative to their size. But a mature tree holds decades of accumulated carbon in its wood, and because its canopy is enormous, it continues adding large amounts of carbon each year. Removing a large old tree doesn't free up space for a better carbon sink — it releases a stock that took decades to build, and a replacement sapling will need 20 to 50 years to approach even a fraction of what was there.

What "we'll plant a new one" doesn't solve:

A newly planted tree stores tens of pounds of carbon per year and provides minimal shade. For it to deliver the cooling, habitat, and water management of a mature tree, you're looking at 20 to 50 years depending on species. At the scale of a human life — and certainly at the scale of a summer heat event — a replacement tree is a promise to the next generation, not a solution for today.

The right approach is both at once: protect existing mature trees as working infrastructure, and plant young trees as an investment in the future. The old tree is today's resource. The sapling is a gift to whoever lives here in thirty years.

Before removing a large tree for aesthetic or convenience reasons, it's worth accounting for what it's already doing — for free — that no young plant will replicate for half a century. 🌿

05/20/2026

Checking in on this American Linden this morning. This homeowner is doing a great job keeping their new tree watered. 👏👏👏 If you are a lucky recipient of a Right of Way tree, please share a photo and tag us.
Remember 💦💦💦 & keep those Gator bags filled, especially during this heat wave.