Saving Atlantic White Cedars At Double Trouble State Park

BAYVILLE, NJ - The beautiful, but vulnerable Atlantic white cedars at Double Trouble State Park took a beating after Superstorm Sandy and acres of the prized trees had to be torn down.

But sixth-grade students from the Berkeley Township Elementary School Potter's Creek Crusaders will be at the park at 10 a.m. on Monday along with Catherine R. McCabe, the acting Commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection to plant Atlantic white cedar seedlings to replace some of those who were lost.

It's part of a state reforestation plan for the cedars. It's also a way to help ensure the future of the stressed trees. which are part of the cypress family.

Monday’s event is tied to Earth Week, which began on Sunday, April 22. Potter's Creek Crusaders are an ecologically-minded group of sixth graders who are devoted to the health of Potter's Creek in the Barnegat Bay watershed.

The trees can grow more than 60 feet high, but are unable to tolerate saltwater, according to a DEP release.

The area around Potter's Creek was once widely used and known for cedar production, as well as melting and production of bog iron ore.

Superstorm Sandy funneled saltwater up coastal creeks, which killed or damaged many stands of cedar trees. You can see the damage in the "ghost forests" of bleached, white trees missing needles in some sections of Ocean County.

In 2014, a tract of nearly 25 acres of white cedars bordering Carriage Road in the park had to be torn down.Tree after tree toppled when Sandy's vicious winds hit the park on Oct. 29, 2012. Others were still leaning, held up only by nearby trees. The area was too dangerous for visitors and had to be closed off for some time.

The storm’s impact led the DEP’s Division of Parks and Forestry to identify areas where trees could be similarly susceptible in the future.

Several members of the Beautiful Earth and Air Keepers, an afterschool group from Bayville Elementary School, are expected to join McCabe and the Potter's Creek Crusaders for the planting.

Photos: A damaged stand of Atlantic white cedars at Double Trouble in 2014. Photos by Patricia A. Miller