Saturday was one of those crisp fall days that almost makes me appreciate crisp fall days. It was a hiking day that starts with a sweatshirt and a mug of coffee, and warms quickly into a T shirt and water bottle walk. I headed out to scout some trails for future family hikes I plan to guide. My first trail brought me to the NJ State Tree Nursery, just a really, really long stone's throw from my house.I wandered around just a small part of the 600+ acres of state-owned land, and gave a quick thank you to whomever had the good sense to conserve it for this purpose. The irrigation pond is home to frogs and turtles, sundews and water lilies, and is in close proximity to the Toms River, which is stocked with trout for local anglers. Blueberries, pepperbush, pines and oaks tell the tale of the pinelands here. But another story looms just past that line of trees in the distance...
This is what the brilliant minds who run Jackson Township consider...well, I don't know what they consider it, but they keep letting it happen. I guess this is what they think our town should be - a bunch of barren space with giant, cookie cutter homes (coming soon) and no trees. It feels like every time I drive across our 100 square miles of township, I witness another bulldozer knocking down trees. And this particular MOONSCAPE seemed more brutal than most. Maybe because it was right next to the tree nursery, and the river.
