April 30, 2025, Planning Board Special Meeting Transcript - WEHI

3 of 48 sheets Page 9 to 12 of 116 05/12/2025 02:23:28 PM 9 number two, it is within the jurisdiction because it's1 mandated as part of this very application.2 CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Thank you.3 Mr. DeVito is accepted.4 MR. AFRAN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will5 sit over here, if I interject I will bring the mic over6 here.7 CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: I'm sorry Dr. DeVito.8 THE WITNESS: Thank you.9 So I just want to talk a little bit about10 what happens to a forest when it gets developed,11 depending on what kind of development occurs and the12 geography of the development.13 So the forest here in West Orange up on the14 ridge is large enough to contain what we call interior15 forest habitat. In other words, the edges of the forest16 suffer from all sorts of degradation. Be it excessive17 wind, excessive heat, animals and plants that don't18 belong in the forest that are bleeding in from the19 backyards and streets and nearby areas, but the interior20 of the forest, if you get far enough from all of those21 disturbances, still acts as the forest ecosystem. And22 so when you look at a forest tract you have to think23 about what parts of the forest are acting as interior24 core forest habitat that contain all the typical25 10 ecological processes that go on in a forest and all the1 species that are to be in a forest.2 First is, what's edge where the forest is3 being diminished, degraded by the surrounding urban4 landscape.5 MR. AFRAN: Let me note for the record,6 since there are no page numbers, that was the first page7 of the slide which was an aerial photograph of this8 forest tract. We are now on the second page which has a9 heading in the right corner, 300-Foot Edge Affects.10 So typically for an eastern deciduous upland11 A. forest of this type, most of the uplands as this forest,12 but it's, you know, on a ridge. It's basically a dry13 oak/hickory type forest. This is a quite mature forest,14 it's never had agriculture. The soils have never been15 plowed, so it has an impact soil layer and it has an16 impact layer, ground layer of vivacious plants, shrubs17 and of course the tree canopy which is well over 10018 years old.19 And the interior of the forest, generally for20 this type of forest, you would use a thumbnail of 30021 feet as, as where the edge effects degrade the forest.22 So by, so you see the red line at the top of the23 photo, that's the 300-foot line that

this type of forest, you would use a thumbnail of 30021 feet as, as where the edge effects degrade the forest.22 So by, so you see the red line at the top of the23 photo, that's the 300-foot line that goes around the24 perimeter of the entire forest patch. Now, in this25 11 photo I'm not looking at the property lines, I'm just1 looking a the entire forest patch, so some of it bleeds2 onto other parcels. So when you take a 300-foot edge of3 that you're left with this hatched green, which is the4 interior of the forest where you would expect interior5 forest species. It's cooler, it's more moist, it6 doesn't suffer from excessive sunlight or wind or wind7 throws because of storms nearly as much as the edge. It8 doesn't suffer from a whole host of species that inhabit9 the suburban landscape and do better around people. And10 so it has a very different biology than what's going on,11 on the edges.12 The word interior, is that equal to the core in13 Q. this context?14 The interior and core are interchangeable.15 A. The core is the same as interior on the screen?16 Q. That's right.17 A. Okay. Thank you.18 Q. And the graphic down below we note that there19 A. are, the patch, the whole entire patch is 143 acres of20 forest. It has 58 acres of core or interior core21 forest, and we'll talk about the numbers later in a22 better visual, but when you look at what's proposed to23 be developed, the number of core -- the acres of core or24 interior forest go from 58 down to 9, and we'll show you25 12 that better in a future graphic.1 Let me just clarify then. The green crosshatched2 Q. section which occupies the majority of the forested area3 in this slide, that's the interior or core forest, is4 that correct?5 That's correct.6 A. And the lighter -- the darker green around it7 Q. that is what you're describing as the edge, is that8 correct?9 The dark green line that goes around is just the10 A. edge of the forest patch. And the edge of the forest11 that functions as an edge which is to some extent12 degraded is the forest that's not colored in.13 Thank you.14 Q. So the perimeter around the green crosshatch is,15 is the edge, is that correct?16 That's correct.17 A. Okay.18 So one of the things that happens when you have19 forest edge is that you get all of these creatures that20 are the predators on the interior forest species. Blue21 Jays, they do incredibly well by

18 So one of the things that happens when you have19 forest edge is that you get all of these creatures that20 are the predators on the interior forest species. Blue21 Jays, they do incredibly well by people. Gray22 squirrels, skunks, raccoons, they don't like to go into23 a core forest because the core forest is not safe for24 them. The core forest has predatory birds like Great25