2023-04-20 Great Day for Litter Clean-Up, Tree Planting and Invasive Vine Removal at Hanover Township’s Central Park

Published by webmaster on April 24, 2023April 24, 2023

What a wonderful day it was! On April 20, 2023, we began celebrating Earth Day by joining forces with WRWAC and Hanover Township’s Green Team, DPW and Fire Department to restore Central Park. We had a blast cleaning up the litter, planting trees and removing invasive species. It was amazing to see so many volunteers from the local businesses, especially Barclays, MetLife and Maraziti, Falcon, LLC. They really showed their commitment to the environment and the community.

We also had a great help from the Hanover Township DPW and Fire Department, who dug the holes we needed for the trees and used their boats to fish out tires and other junk from the Whippany River. In all we collected about a ton of trash and a dozen tires! That’s incredible!

We are so grateful to Brian Marshall of Garden Magic, LLC for working on the restoration plan and guiding us through the process. He has a vision for this park and we are excited to see it come to life.

We ended the day with a delicious B-B-Q hosted by the Fire Department. It was a perfect way to relax and enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery. We had so much fun and we learned a lot about our park and our river.

Thank you to everyone who participated and supported this event. You made a difference for our planet and our community. We hope to see you again soon for more restoration activities!

Invasive Plants

We successfully removed the invasive vines that had overrun 400 linear feet of 4-foot-tall chain-link fence (1600 square ft of fence) on the back side of the soccer fields. Some of the invasive species removed included porcelain-berry, wine raspberry, multiflora rose, Japanese honeysuckle, and garlic mustard.  In addition to removing the vines, many of the roots were dug out so that the plants would not grow back quickly.  Also, all of the removed vegetation was hauled away from the site to prevent re-growth or spreading to other parts of the park. 

The effort was the first step in implementing a larger vision of removing more invasive plants and replanting with native plant species to restore lost habitats.  Because much of the natural Whippany River corridor in the park has been overrun by a variety of invasive plant species, habitat and resource restoration efforts will require a well-planned and long-term effort. 

Tree Planting

Twelve trees were planted near the Central Park parking lot — five along Eden Lane, six between the parking lot and the soccer field, and one at the end of the parking lot near the exit. The types of trees planted are: black tupelo (2), dogwood (1), eastern redbud (2), Higan cherry (2), Kousa dogwood (2), sawtooth oak (2), and swamp white oak (1).

The trees were planted according to a planting plan prepared by Rich Wolowicz, Hanover Township Arborist.  Trees were selected suitable for the growing conditions and for park beautification.  In addition, the tree genera represented — Quercus (oak), Prunus (cherry), Cornus (dogwood), Nyssa (tupelo), and Cercis (redbud) — are all hosts to a many caterpillar species, which are key components in the natural food web and critical for a healthy ecosystem.