Rrea project abstract FY2026 new jersey is a geographically small state with a large population that can be considered as urban based on census data, while also being seen as a diverse mosaic of lands…

Rrea project abstract FY2026 new jersey is a geographically small state with a large population that can be considered as urban based on census data, while also being seen as a diverse mosaic of lands from urban to wildland. With a glacially influenced coastal history, new jersey has a compact geologic complex that yields five physiographic provinces with additional novel formations such as the greensand zones in central new jersey. NJ enjoys just over two million acres of forested land covering about forty percent of its land area. Of those lands, forty-eight percent as privately held forest. A large proportion of property with tree canopy less than 4 acres falls below state programs for forest stewardship incentives. This group has interest and can be mobilized for coordinated actions in step or in conflict with larger landowners or public land management. Our project plan establishes a suite of outreach products to build a foundation for efforts by allied programs while continuing our support in the programs established from previous efforts. We will be developing a series of outreach products on a species-specific basis coupled with more cross-cutting topics to help small-area landowners make coordinated decisions to enable a larger change since the land ownership pattern is a bit different than many other less developed states. To address the growing interest in 'tiny forest' programming, we are removing an unused campus roadway to install a tiny forest using both matrix planting and a 'scoop and dump' method of soil restoration to inform NJ communities looking to establish such systems as a field site for testing, demonstration, example for technical support, and monitoring. We are continuing with the development of species profile information to help grow both awareness and guide management conversations of homeowners, focusing on supportive efforts in the NJ environmental stewards program, which tracks student volunteer projects and impacts of hours in service. This effort will continue building our social media presence through 2-minute tree facts, infographics by species, general interest and popular video shorts and slightly more in-depth imaged fact sheets. We will focus on continuing the target of 25 posts per year for the three years of the project and guidance documentation by the middle of year 2. The impact will be gauged by clicks on social media, download counts, and the number tags as shared with other state forest community groups. While this cannot translate into acres of changed behavior, we do not track the targeted community to a detail that is conducive to the method, as many of the target audience live on less than 1 acre but have an outsized impact on the disposition of public lands managed as forest stands.