New Jersey Community Tree Recovery Campaign Distributes Free New Trees This April

TRENTON, N.J. (March 31, 2015) – The New Jersey Community Tree Recovery Campaign – a partnership between the Arbor Day Foundation and the New Jersey State Forestry Services – marks the second year of a multi-year campaign which will provide 130,000 trees this year to New Jersey residents free of charge to replace trees damaged and destroyed by Hurricane Sandy.

New Jersey will be holding more than 180 separate distributions of new trees throughout all 21 counties of the state. The distributed tree species will feature more than 25 species including bald cypress, black gum, chestnut oak, Douglasfir, flowering dogwood, Norway spruce, pitch pine, and redbud. A new tree distribution master schedule with detailed pick-up information is available at arborday.org/newjerseytreeschedule.

New Jersey was the fourth state in which the Arbor Day Foundation and its on-the-ground partners established a local state campaign as part of the Community Tree Recovery program, and is the sixth of ten individual state campaigns that will take place this spring.

Community Tree Recovery program events across the nation are supported by national program sponsor FedEx, which has long supported communities in need through disaster relief, recovery and environmental sustainability.

On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New Jersey where it damaged more than 340,000 homes and took 37 lives. The most severe storm of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, Sandy caused $30 billion in economic losses. As the residents of New Jersey continue to rebuild their communities, the Arbor Day Foundation and our partners are working to bring back the community tree canopy to help restore the delicate shoreline balance that makes New Jersey so unique.

Trees are assets to a community when properly planted and maintained. They help to improve the visual appeal of a neighborhood or shopping district, increase property values, reduce home cooling costs, remove air pollutants, and provide wildlife habitat, among many other benefits.

The New Jersey Community Tree Recovery campaign is a multi-year partnership between the New Jersey State Forestry Services and the Arbor Day Foundation. This recovery campaign has plans to help distribute hundreds of thousands of trees to New Jersey residents for years to come.
Financial support for this particular campaign is being provided by FedEx, Wyndham Vacation Resorts, Brother Inc, and BJ's Wholesale.

Campaign partners emphasize that more help is still needed to restore New Jersey to its pre-disaster condition. Anyone can donate online at www.arborday.org/recovery. With your help, we can begin to restore this beautiful New Jersey landscape.

About the Arbor Day Foundation: The Arbor Day Foundation is a million member nonprofit conservation and education organization with the mission to inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees. More information is available at arborday.org.

New Jersey State Forestry Services comprises six unique programs under the State Forester: the Forest Fire Service, which protects state and private lands from wildfire, Forest Management, which monitors and manages our forests, the Forest Resource Education Center, which educates the public about the benefits of trees; the New Jersey Forest Nursery, which grows seedlings to reforest our state, Community Forestry, which plants and maintains trees in our cities and towns, and Natural Lands, which preserves diversity of species in New Jersey's forests. These interrelated programs as a whole ensure healthy and diverse forests throughout the state for residents to enjoy.

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