---

The City of Asbury Park was awarded a $3,000 Roots for Rivers Reforestation Grant to support flood mitigation around Sunset Park. The Rivers Reforestation Grant and Technical Assistance Program, a partnership between The Nature Conservancy, The Watershed Institute and Sustainable Jersey, awarded $38,000 in total to eight New Jersey municipalities for floodplain reforestation projects.

Other grant recipients include Bernardsville Borough (Somerset), High Bridge Borough (Hunterdon), Mount Holly Township (Burlington), Oakland Borough (Bergen), South Orange Village (Essex), Springfield Township (Union), and Vineland City (Cumberland). These communities will receive funding to cover the costs of tree saplings and protection that will be planted by local volunteers.

“Throughout much of the state, our floodplains have been deforested and left without trees to help filter water, absorb flooding, or cool the river for fish,” said Michelle DiBlasio, the Watershed Restoration Coordinator for the New Jersey Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. “One important way to help ensure we can continue to rely upon our precious natural water resources is to restore New Jersey’s floodplains—the critical land near our rivers’ banks.”

“We’re thrilled to be awarded this generous first-time grant and will be using the funds for shrub seedlings and native species of trees to plant along the Sunset Lake’s edge and in flood-prone areas,” said Councilwoman Eileen Chapman. “We can’t thank the Sunset Lake Conservancy enough for working with the City to write the grant and the Environmental Shade Tree Commission who will be planting for us later this spring.”

For more information on Sustainable New Jersey, visit sustainablenewjersey.com. For more information on the City of Asbury Park, visit cityofasburypark.com.

[Photo courtesy of Councilwoman Eileen Chapman]

——————————————————————————

Follow the Asbury Park Sun on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The Asbury Park Sun is affiliated with the triCityNews newspaper.

---