City looks to increase UTC from 25% to 45% - NJ Cool Cities grant will help; Wood-ridge, NJ

Leader Newspapers:
By Colleen Reynolds / Reporter

WOOD-RIDGE (Oct. 1, 2009) — Satellite imagery reveals Wood-Ridge to be one of the greener municipalities in The Leader coverage area, but it is about to get much leafier.
The borough recently won a Cool Cities Initiative grant from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Division of Parks and Forestry and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. The grant will help pay for the planting of 75 mature shade trees on publicly-owned land throughout the 1.1-square-mile municipality. The planting is expected to take root Nov. 10, 11 and 12, depending on weather and site conditions.
“The real benefit of this is to provide tree canopy,” said George Meglio, chair of the Wood-Ridge Shade Tree Commission.
State surveys indicate that the borough has a forest cover of only 25.5 percent, a figure low enough to qualify for the grant, Meglio said.
Although he noted that adding 75 trees to the current borough inventory of approximately 3,500 is a small percentage increase, it is an admirable start.