WEEQUAHIC PARK ASSOCIATION (Newark, NJ) - Weequahic Park Urban Forest Inventory

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

(Parks Practices)

WEEQUAHIC PARK ASSOCIATION
Newark, NJ

In This Profile: Program Description • Program Goals • Timeframe • Budget • Funding/Support • Results Achieved • Lessons Learned • Ask The Expert • Contact Information

Introduction

Dedicated to the restoration of Weequahic Park, the WPA is a nationally recognized grassroots urban environmental organization that has met weekly for over 15 years. In 1995 it became the first park conservancy in New Jersey to enter a partnership agreement with Essex County, (owners of the system). To date, the WPA has raised in excess of $5 million. The "partnership" has been extended for an additional 15 years.

We continue to enhance the urban quality of life, by restoring this magnificent 311-acre natural resource and capitalizing upon the economic, educational and vocational opportunities available for the community. Its project director, Kevin D. Moore, serves on the board of the National Association for Olmsted Parks.

Project Name: Weequahic Park Urban Forest Inventory

Program description

Last summer marked the first stage of the Weequahic Park Association's Forestry and Botanical Inventory Project. The project seeks to count, identify and catalogue the condition of the trees in the park. The characterization is being done in partnership with the Center for Urban Restoration Ecology (CURE) at Rutgers University in New Jersey. The Center is a collaborative effort between Rutgers and the Brooklyn Botanical Garden in Brooklyn, NY. The inventory, seeks to examine the biodiversity of the park and create a management plan. The project also included community youth who were trained and supervised by graduate students and professors from Rutgers and employed, by the WPA, to do the inventory activities.

The 311-acre park, which includes an 80-acre lake, is nationally and locally recognized as an historic and environmentally prized natural and freshwater resource. The project identified (genus & species), tagged and characterized tree health and canopy condition for a permanent database and future resource management tool. The inventory activity included the mapping of trees, to within 3' of their position on the Earth, utilizing GPS (Global Positioning System) technology in predetermined management zones. The trees were then tagged and catalogued so that they could be referenced with a GIS (Global Information System) map, which includes a database to identify the tree and specific characteristics. This methodology allows the user to highlight a tree (tag number) on the map and find species, tree health and general condition of the tree.

Rutgers University's CURE program was selected by the WPA, as part of the selection of consultants for our Master Plan, through a community based approach, working with our technical consultant Professional Planning & Engineering of Cedar Knolls, NJ. After an initial community outreach with residents and local school representatives, to explain the need and importance of the project and methodology, the project philosophy began work in the northeast region of the park. Rutgers University, with the WPA, also facilitated progress demonstrations during the project to keep the community informed (See the Site Map, Informational Handout 1 and Information Handout 2).

Students learned to use several tree measuring instruments and gained a new appreciation for the park as a natural resource and learned new educational and career pursuits. Tools were also created (see Weequahic Park Tree Survey) to assist the interns in the collection of data. Several class field trips were arranged with local schools to demonstrate the inventory activities to schoolchildren to see their peers engaged in the project. Upon completion of this initial phase, one of the interns will actually seek to attend the university to pursue a career in natural resource management.

The project demonstrates the WPA's commitment to the education of our community residents and students. Through the restoration of Weequahic Park, we intend to "create the next generation of urban environmental voices," thus introducing a new constituency of stewards determined to change and enhance the urban quality of life.

Program goals/issues addressed:

The project's goals are to create a nexus that combines practical state of the art natural resource management utilizing GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and GPS (Global Positioning System) technology with environmental educational opportunity for community participation and empowerment. The inventory project, while generating the scientific data, has also begun to take advantage of the community building process that has linked the community, via the WPA, Weequahic Park and local schools taking advantage of educational and career opportunities.

The WPA has established contacts at area grammar and middle schools to enhance student educational experiences with explanatory tours of the inventory activities. Staff representatives from respective schools and community members received an Informational Handout that was developed for and distributed to further explain the inventory activities. Stakeholder constituencies of school children and underemployed community residents benefited directly from the project.

Timeframe:

Six months for consultant and funding strategy development. Three months for community outreach and orientation. Two months for inventory (can be dependant upon seasonal conditions).

Annual program budget:

$166,700 (includes $67,000 of in-kind support from Rutgers University)

Funding sources/partnerships and type of support provided:

Private foundations and in-kind contributions from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The Schumann Fund for New Jersey and the Prudential Foundation funded this project, as a component of the characterization stage of the Master Plan.

Results achieved/impact:

Initial results (see Initial Results) of the Urban Forest Inventory Project are available (see Weequahic Tree Inventory).

Lessons learned:

1.Educational and career development capitalizing on the enthusiasm and imagination of the school students actually manifested with one of the student interns actually pursuing secondary education at Rutgers University School of Natural Resource Management. Students and teachers saw the park through a fresh perspective (as a natural resource) as opposed to the traditional view of a park as a place for active recreation. Teachers also look to include the restoration activities of the park into their lesson plans as real life demonstrations of the New Jersey CORE curriculum requirements for science a "win-win" for teachers and students.

Weequahic Park, designed by the Olmsted Brothers in 1901, is an historic park. As part of the next phase of the project we will contrast and compare the current vegetation to the original planting plans. We will also try to understand the original intent of the selection of plant material. The inventory ultimately will include a description of the existing understory, small trees, shrubs and ground cover for comparison. Once we finish the inventory and historical assessment, we will better be able to understand how the plant material has adapted to urban environmental stresses over time. This information will be the cornerstone to future natural resource management.

It is important to remember that natural resource management in the case of historic parks has a cultural component. The tree canopy and species make-up was influenced by human decisions and this should be reflected in the inventory work.

Ask the Expert:

Name: Kevin D. Moore, Project Director
E-mail: kevin@wpapark.org
Date submitted: October 19, 2005

Contact Information:

Organization: Weequahic Park Association, Inc.
Address: P.O. Box 2248, Newark, NJ 07114

Tel/Fax: 973-643-7850/973-643-7853
E-mail: kevin@wpapark.org
Web site address: http://www.wpapark.org

Photos courtesy of Weequahic Park Association, Inc.

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