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Why planting trees matters in Asbury Park

Trees don’t just look pretty, they play an important role in the environment for urban communities like Asbury Park.

Amanda Oglesby, Asbury Park Press

ASBURY PARK – Newly planted trees and flowering shrubs are more than a pretty addition to Second Street and Comstock Avenue; they are part of an effort to improve the environment for some of Asbury’s lowest income and most vulnerable residents.

On Wednesday, volunteers helped the New Jersey Tree Foundation plant more than 50 native trees and shrubs around Lumley Homes on Comstock Avenue, one of Asbury Park’s public housing communities for lower-income, older adults and people with disabilities. 

In the humid morning air, the sounds of shovels scraping dirt resounded as volunteers placed young elms, redbuds, black gum and other native plants on the lawn around Lumley homes. The trees and shrubs were funded through a grant from TD Bank as part of the company’s 10-year initiative to plant 1 million trees across North America by 2030 and bring green space to urban areas.

The new trees at Lumley Homes will help absorb rain, reduce the risk of flooding from storms and improve air quality in the neighborhood, said New Jersey Tree Foundation Executive Director Lisa Simms.

“I think the most interesting research that has come out was research comparing maps of redlined areas and areas that had no trees,” Simms said. Redlining was a systemic, historic and now illegal form of racism that denied housing loans and mortgages to people based on race or where they lived.

Simms said: “When they (researchers) overlaid those maps, they found that our history of redlining and racism and housing matched up perfectly with our history of not investing in our cities and (not) investing in green infrastructure … that we need in cities to make them beautiful.”

Heat islands

Without trees, cities turn into environmental heat islands, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Buildings, sidewalks and roads absorb the sun’s rays and radiate the heat more than a natural environment, resulting in cities having higher temperatures than surrounding suburban or rural areas, according to the federal agency.

“All the concrete and all the buildings and all the places that reflect the sun create almost like a globe of heat over a city,” Simms said. “The only way to counteract that is to get rid of some of the built environment. And that could be sidewalks. It could be patios. It could be whatever is built, and add green space instead.”

The heat islands increase demand for electricity on hot days and and put low-income residents, many of whom may not have access to air conditioning, at risk of heat-related illness, according to the EPA. 

For older adults living in multistory housing, like those in Lumley Homes, heat islands present a serious health risk, according to the EPA. Dark rooves, brick construction and lack of air flow can be deadly during heat waves in urban areas, as buildings absorb warmth and stay hot late into the night, according to the federal agency. 

Tom Pivinski, who chairs the Asbury Park Shade Tree Commission, said the new trees in this neighborhood will help reduce that heat island effect.

“We need greening here and we need these people (at the Housing Authority homes) to be able to feel like they’re within a city that’s taking care of them, rather than just macadam (and) concrete,” he said.

Complementing another project

The new plantings compliment another urban tree project completed by the foundation in Asbury Park, said Russell Lewis, a member of the city’s Shade Tree Commission. In 2006, the foundation and Asbury Park residents partnered to plant two rows of trees around Bradley Elementary School on Third Avenue.

When TD Bank granted the New Jersey Tree Foundation money for urban forestry, Lewis saw an opportunity in the Housing Authority’s grassy, mostly barren lawn.

“This is my way to work,” said Lewis, who recommended the site to the foundation. “Being an avid and committed tree hugger and landscaper, I have always rounded this corner and fantasized about what a perfect opportunity this would be. … It’s gonna be really, really great.”

Amanda Oglesby is an Ocean County native who covers Brick, Barnegat and Lacey townships as well as the environment. She has worked for the Press for more than a decade. Reach her at @OglesbyAPP, [email protected] or 732-557-5701.

Source: Asbury Park

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