Spring Lake Shade Tree Committee

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

07/09/2026

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.

05/18/2026

The Manalapan Environmental Commission has their demo gardens ready for this season… Ready for people and insects alike to enjoy! 👨‍🌾🦋

We hope you’ll join us for our Nature Fest and Native Plant Sale on May 31 9am-2pm🌿

Fun for all ages and great way to get all your landscape questions answered!

05/12/2026

We’ve got trees! 🌳🌳🌳

In the last few days, on behalf of the Spring Lake Shade Tree Committee and the Boro has planted nearly 70 native trees throughout town along the public right-of-way — the area between residents’ curbs and sidewalks.

These new trees will help strengthen and preserve Spring Lake’s canopy for generations to come by:
🌿 Providing shade
🌿 Improving stormwater management
🌿 Supporting birds and wildlife
🌿 Beautifying our neighborhoods
🌿 Increasing environmental resilience

Before the mulch, stakes, and gator bags are installed, Benny is making sure these young trees get the water they need to establish healthy roots and get off to a strong start.

If you are one of the lucky residents receiving a new tree this season, we’ll be reminding you throughout the summer to keep it well watered. The first 3 years are critical to a tree’s long-term success.

Thank you to everyone helping grow Spring Lake’s tree canopy — one tree at a time. 🌳💚

05/09/2026

The shrubs along the fence aren't just landscaping. They're where most songbirds actually nest.

Cardinals, catbirds, and song sparrows raise young in the shrub layer, not the treetops. The caterpillars those parents feed to nestlings need to be within feet of the nest. Native shrubs host them. Most common ornamental shrubs host very few.

🌿 Six native shrubs ranked by caterpillar support:

- Blueberry — one of the most productive shrub genera for caterpillar species. The berries feed dozens of bird species in late summer on top of it.

- Dogwood — flowering and pagoda dogwoods support caterpillars in high numbers. The berries are among the most sought-after fall foods for migrating thrushes.

- Native rose — wild roses like Virginia rose host far more caterpillars than imported tea roses. The hips persist into winter as bird food.

- Viburnum — arrowwood, nannyberry, and blackhaw are the ones worth planting. Native viburnums support a food web that ornamental replacements don't.

- Hazelnut — American hazelnut is overlooked. Polyphemus and io moths use it as a host plant. Catkins feed birds in winter, nuts feed mammals in fall.

- Sumac — staghorn, smooth, and winged sumac. Often confused with poison sumac, which grows only in wetlands. Native sumacs feed birds through winter when the berry clusters hold.

The plant you choose between two that look the same is rarely a tie 🌿