Shade Tree Commission Helps Residents Get to Know Native Plants

Residents who stroll the Barnegat Branch Trail may have noticed the county-owned path got an upgrade last month.

With the help of a state grant – and just in time for Arbor Day at the end of April – members of the township’s Shade Tree Commission installed 20 informational signs identifying native plant species growing in the woods along the trail.

With each small sign offering the the common and scientific name of the plant and a few interesting facts about its biology and appearance, hikers, bikers, walkers and runners can now get to know a score of Pinelands tree and shrub species a little better.

“We wanted to try to educate the public about what we have in this area,” said commission member Diane Bennett-Chase, a naturalist and retired district teacher. Helping people put a name to the plants around them “a very, very important step” in getting them to appreciate natural resources, she said.

The small signs also highlight the diversity in the native forests that surround Barnegat – and area with a reputation of spare ecological landscapes, but one which can, in fact, harbor a wide range of species.

In a mile, walkers can encounter everything from stately white oak to humble sheep’s laurel, all within about an arm’s breadth of the gravel path.

“It was important for us to think about where along the trail the species were actually located, and when it was  good place for the public to stop and view them,” Bennett-Chase said.

Even poison ivy now has its own sign identifying it to unsuspecting walkers.

Why grace the itch-inducing herb with its own special sign?

“So many people just don’t have any idea what it looks like,” said Bennett-Chase.

The commission drew on its collective expertise to pick out and identify the plants getting markers. “Certain members are so knowledgeable about these particular plants,” said Bennett-Chase.

Funding for the signs was provided by a grant from the New Jersey Community Forestry Program, which aids municipalities around the state in caring for trees. The grant directed federal stimulus dollars to Barnegat’s project, Bennett-Chase said, and the township, the Ocean County Parks Department, General Graphics Corporation and Living Landscapes on Route in 9 helped make the project possible, she said.