Author(s)

RICHARD STALTER, MICHAEL O’DONOVAN

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to identify, map, determine tree dominance and frequency of occurrence of old trees and colonizing tree seedlings and saplings at 50 home sites at Powhatan Park, Montvale, New Jersey. Powhatan Park (41.05N, 74.05W) includes Waverly, Forest and Westmoreland Avenues and was developed as a summer resort complete with bungalows and a club house built in the 1920s. White oak (Quercus alba), red oak (Quercus rubra) and black oak (Quercus velutina) were the most frequently encountered old growth trees. The three trees with the highest relative dominance were Q. velutina, Q. alba and Q. rubra, with relative dominance values of 25.4, 18.9 and 17.4 respectively. Twenty-eight tree species have colonized the home sites. Transition to non-native taxa may be a very slow process because of the longevity of the dominant oaks.

Keywords

tree diversity, home sites, Montvale, New Jersey, USA