Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone – or you think it’s threatened. Last month, residents from the northern end of town attended a council meeting to protest what they thought was a plan to remove 70 trees from Schmidt’s Woods.
Contractors had marked 70 trees with red in order to determine whether it was feasible to build a recreation center over one of the adjacent pools. The mayor and council stated, after residents protested, that they would not use the pool as a site for the recreation center if it couldn’t fit without cutting down trees. At last month’s meeting, they passed a resolution stating that they wouldn’t cut down trees to build the recreation center.
Mayor Dennis Elwell said that there was never any intention to cut down trees in the woods, which he said are the last hardwood forest in North East New Jersey.
The maintenance of Schmidt’s Woods, however, sometimes requires that trees be removed, specifically dead or otherwise hazardous ones. Other maintenance, especially in the front park area, is also often necessary.
“In the front of the woods, there is a lot of activity,” said Public Works Director Mike Gonnelli. “In the picnic area, seedlings don’t get a chance to grow because they get stepped on. Any tree that is considered a hazard has to be removed.”
Over the last few years, Public Works has planted over 200 trees, including 120 oak saplings and 30 full grown trees. In the back portion of the park, the town is able to take more of a hands-off approach.
“If a dead tree is in the back of the woods, and it’s not blocking a path or endangering anyone, we’ll consider it a part of the habitat and leave it alone,” Gonnelli said.
Gonnelli stressed that any work done in Schmidt’s Woods, removing or planting trees, is done with the intention of maintaining and preserving the woods.
Schmidt’s Woods Park Rehabilitation Project.
In 2001, Secaucus received $150,000 Department of Community Affairs grant to complete the Schmidt’s Woods Rehabilitation Project.
The Park encompasses 13.9 acres of town owned property. It was dedicated by Mayor James Moore in 1958. The rehabilitation project involved refurbishing the picnic area, making it compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act standards, installing an outdoor pavilion, reconstructing the pathways and walkways, and improving drainage.
Another large component of the project was an extensive shade tree and forest resource study completed by Paul Cowie & Associates Consulting Arborists and Urban Foresters.
The arborists took an inventory trees and other vegetation in the woods. The results were based on a line-plot sampling method, rather than a full count.
The study determined that the park area has mature freestanding native trees, 350 of which are shade and ornamental trees.
“As a result of the number and distribution of large trees, there is a well-established, impressive and pleasing shade tree canopy,” the study said. “This may be one of Schmidt’s Woods Park’s greatest assets.”
According to the study, the trees were in overall fair condition, and would need some maintenance. Interventions such as pruning, fertilization, and mulching were needed along with continuous monitoring.
The study described the back forest area as a natural, lowland forest remnant – one of the few remaining in the Hackensack Meadowlands. The forest area had about 2,105 trees with a one-inch diameter or bigger, and 4,735 saplings.
The study noted that while the conditions of the forest were generally good, there were some invasive species that threatened the balance, and it recommended that they be removed for the overall welfare of the woods.
Greenbrier, a kind of shrub, had enveloped trees and impinged on some needed plants, and Ailanthus, paulownia, and Norway maple threatened to overtake the forest by growing faster than other trees. The Public Works Department took steps to controlling these invasive species.
Schmidts Woods is home to a number of species of wildlife, including the Yellow Crowned Night Herring bird, which is an endangered species. The study recommended that intervening to keep the balance of the woods as it is critical for providing a habitat for these species, providing food, water and nesting cover.
No trees to be removed for the recreation center
The council voted that no trees would be removed to build a recreation center, but stopped there, because more restrictive legislation might interfere with maintenance of the woods, they said.
One resident suggested that the woods designated a national park. Mayor Elwell said that such a designation could interfere with current maintenance activities.
“I know that when you look towards that designation, you can’t cut any branches or clean up dead trees,” Elwell said.
One of the issues facing the council regarding the woods now is that residents with property bordering on the woods have sometimes cut trees, said both Elwell and Gonnelli.