LETTER: Bville tree clearing: Death by a thousand cuts

EDITOR: Wild nature and human nature are closely interwoven; eco-centrism and human-centrism are therefore one in the same. To take care of our species we must assure mutual protection for all others in order for the system to run efficiently; providing all stakeholders safe passage for generations to come.

These are the simple tenets of a conservation biologist that any first year student of the discipline can grasp. Some of you who just read that opening salvo probably hope Im not talking about the removal of a couple of trees - all 250 of them - so that our kids can play after school sports more comfortably at Bernards High School. Sorry to report thats exactly what Im referring to.

As a professional in the field of environmental science I gained an intimacy with the Bernards High Lower Field woodland last spring. I devoted an entire day of my life to its confines. Here is what I learned.

The site is a mixed deciduous forest type at the terminus of a much longer finger of greenway connected lands associated directly with the Great Swamps exceptional resource value ecosystem. I restricted myself to the footprint that is to be the extended field and the forested buffers that surround it.

Through direct observation and interpretation of natural signs I catalogued 23 bird species, seven species of mammals, two amphibians, one reptile, and 32 species of flora - trees not included. I also performed a survey of nocturnal invertebrate species on a warm May evening that same week.

This study resulted in an impressive tally: 73 species of moths and other insects all in one night! The latter treatment is a much better barometer of the overall ecologic health of this forest patch than are the diurnal species mentioned. Combined, however, the numbers should give even the most skeptical amongst us reason for pause.

I beg you all to focus on the fact that these were species found in one single day in May what about the rest of the year? What about the potential of the site to support species like maternity roosting endangered bats and migratory birds?

Not the dumb bats and birds again - we hear the eco-whackism retort all the time as conservation biologists: Save the panda bear as long as its not in an area slated for human-induced, conceived necessity.

Will the clearing of 250 trees thrust any of them into extinction? Of course not; what I concern myself with, and you should as well, is the fact that we nip and tuck at our environmental capital each and every day in this state.

This latest example of small scale land clearing is just one of hundreds that has happened this week alone in New Jersey. So whats the big deal about a little deforestation in the back of Kings?

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LETTER: Bville tree clearing: Death by a thousand cuts