Tree Preservation – Waterfront Park

Client

Hatch Mott MacDonald

Project

Tree preservation planning for construction; Newark Riverfront Park

Location

Newark, New Jersey

The Issue

This project turned a former brownfield into a community amenity. It was a complex project, with partners like the Trust for Public Land, Essex County Parks, and the Ironbound Community Corporation working with the NJ DEP, the general contractors, and others. The team wanted to preserve trees on site, but could not decide how many or which ones.

Desired Outcome

The desired outcome was to identify the trees that were candidates for preservation during the project based on their type, age, condition, and location.

Our Solution

Members of the team had disparate views of what was “native”. Some wanted to consider tree types native to North America as native. Some wanted to consider any trees that had become established on the site as native.

Rather than try to impose a view, we offered the team two scenarios: one showing what it would look like if all trees structurally sound enough to survive construction were retained (Fig 1), and what it would look like if only native, non-invasive trees structurally sound enough to survive construction were retained (Fig 2). This allowed them to look at options and see which plant palette best served project outcomes.