Welcome to Tree City USA

The township enjoyed perhaps its most significant Arbor Day planting ever on Saturday, coinciding with Wyckoff's official recognition as a Tree City USA.

Almost 30 trees were planted within the past few days on some of the township's main thoroughfares, thanks to a newly created tree fund intended to be a permanent and self-sustaining source for future plantings.

Among the plantings were three willow trees donated by Landscape Works Inc. of Wyckoff that were placed at Zabriskie Pond, where township officials gathered under sunny skies. The willow trees, worth approximately $2,000, will one day reach upwards of 40 feet, providing shade for years to come.

Mayor Rudy Boonstra, Deputy Mayor Kevin Rooney, Committeeman David Connolly, DPW Manager Scott Fisher and Shade Tree Commission Chairman Mark Borst were among those who got their hands dirty, wielding shovels to firmly establish the donated willow trees. 

The township officials did so next to a new sign proclaiming Wyckoff's status as a Tree City USA, a designation won earlier this year from the Arbor Day Foundation in recognition of efforts to create a tree canopy throughout town. 

Those efforts have increased of late with the establishment of a fund, seeded with more than $15,000 from Barrister Home Construction's Robert Milanese. The developer had been asked to provide the township with the approximate value of 125 trees, donation of which had been one of the conditions of Planning Board approval of the Deep Brook home project.

The Shade Tree Commission and Township Committee had opted to establish the fund to facilitate the planting of trees throughout the township on an annual basis, starting with the "front door," or main approaches to town.

Those efforts are already evident to motorists moving through downtown. Seven trees were planted along Main Street in the past week; two were erected on West Main Street; 10 were planted along Wyckoff Avenue; and six went in the ground throughout Scott Plaza.