Avalon cuts down dune pines that activists wanted to save

Elaine Scattergood paused along the 48th Street nature trail that winds through Avalon's densely wooded sand dunes to its sweeping beachfront.

"That," she said, pointing north over a split rail fence to a tree stump beside the path, "was my favorite. It was all by itself and could spread its branches."

Stumps are all that remain of many dozens of Japanese black pines that this upscale Cape May County borough cut down last week.

Borough officials and their consultants say that some of the trees - which the municipality planted in abundance in the 1970s and '80s - are showing signs of damage from the Southern pine bark beetle, and that the trees had to fall to halt a full-scale invasion.

But Scattergood and other residents who have battled the borough over the issue say municipal leaders have not shared any evidence with them of the beetle's telltale presence within the borough. They assert that the borough has removed 220 of the tall-growing trees to improve the ocean views of beachfront property owners.

A large sign the borough put up along the nature trail did not address that allegation, but acknowledged that visitors might notice something different about the woods.

"Why all the stumps?" it asks. "What you see are stumps from diseased trees that were cut down," it explains, to which Scattergood scoffed.

"None of these trees showed any sign of damage," she said, whereas pines typically die within weeks of beetle infestation.

When asked what might explain why some of the newly cut trees, including her favorite, were nowhere near any beachfront houses, Scattergood was quick with an answer. "If you're going to tell a lie," she said, "you have to tell a big lie. So that meant cutting them all down."

Borough business administrator Scott Wahl was on vacation Friday and unavailable for comment. Joseph Lomax, the borough's environmental consultant, did not return a request for comment.

Scattergood, who has lived in Avalon or nearby Stone Harbor since she was a child, is not the only resident locked in this battle.

Martha Wright, another longtime resident, has accused the borough of claiming beetle infestation to fraudulently obtain a $24,000 federal grant to remove the trees.

Wright said her formal complaint, filed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is still "under review."

In June, soon-to-be borough council President Nancy Hudanich dismissed such allegations as "meritless," however, and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Larry Hajna said there was "unquestionable evidence" of the Southern pine beetle's presence in Avalon, based on on-site visits by DEP inspectors.

The borough plans to replace the felled Japanese black pines with native species, including black oaks, white cedars, and sassafras.

But Wright last week said black pines grow faster and taller, and do a better job of stabilizing the coastal dunes, than the replacement trees will. "And the borough will be planting little 8-inch saplings," she said, "70 percent of which will die."

The borough had said months ago it planned to start the tree-felling effort once the summer tourism season had ended. Save for some gulls and other shore birds huddled against a stiff onshore wind, the wide, pristine beaches were vacant on Friday as Scattergood emerged onto them.

"I'm sad," she said after pointing out dozens of stumps, some surrounded by bright wood chips and still oozing clear amber sap.

She said she had planned to cling to her favorite tree when the chainsaws started buzzing, in hopes of thwarting its demise, "but it was gone before I got here. I just wanted to climb in bed when I saw this."

doreilly@phillynews.com

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