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November 6, 2024 Ms. Geneice Gary-Adams, Director/Zoning Official Township in West Orange Planning and Development 66 Main Street West Orange, NJ 07052 Re: Second Supplemental Report re: Environmental Conditions per Settlement Agreement: West Essex Highlands with Attached Documentation as Requested Via Electronic Mail zoningofficial@westorange.org Dear Ms. Gary-Adams, After comments received at the hearing of October 30, 2024, DeFeo Associates hereby submits the attached supporting information related to the environmental conditions at the West Essex Highlands (Applicant) site. In addition, this report contains answers to specific questions raised during that hearing. I have attached four documents for your use: 1. The original tree study conducted by Amy Greene Environmental dated January 6, 2020. 2. A copy of the Final Report, 2023 Deer Management Program for Essex County, New Jersey at the South Mountain Reservation. 3. A copy of the Autumn, 2024 ANJEC Report. I call your attention to the special section – Protecting NJ’s trees, pages 12 and 13. 4. A copy of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation article on Regenerating native forests to fight climate change. Additionally, in response to inquiries made during the hearing, the following information is being provided for clarification. 1. Are seedlings available for sale to help accelerate the process of reforestation? a. ANS. New Jersey does sell seedlings to private companies and provides free seedlings to certain groups. No seedlings were available in 2024 due to 1

production issues. It is possible that seedlings may be available in 2025. 2. What reference is there for the Duke Farms deer management program? a. ANS. The attached article from the New Jersey Conservation Foundation references the Duke Farms Deer Management project. Additional information on this project was obtained from a first - hand interview with Duke Farms staff. DeFeo Associates reserves the right to modify all findings based on additional information. Should you have any questions, please contact me at your convenience. Very truly yours, Wayne D. DeFeo, LEED AP, BD&C Principal DeFeo Associates Cc Jamilet Baquerizo - jvite@westorange.org 2

January 6, 2020 DeFeo Associates 15 Washington Valley Road Warren, NJ 07059 VIA EMAIL (WDefeo@defeoassociates.com) Re: West Orange Housing Development/West Essex Highlands West Orange Township, Essex County, New Jersey ASGECI Project #4519 Dear Mr. DeFeo: AMY S. GREENE ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANTS, INC. (ASGECI) is pleased to provide this report of findings on the tree survey conducted on December 10, 2019 at the proposed West Orange Housing Development/West Essex Highlands Site (Site). Per the request of West Orange Township, a tree survey was conducted to determine the approximate density of trees within a ~25-acre area where a 496-unit housing development is proposed, in which a portion includes inclusionary housing pursuant to the Mount Laurel doctrine. Methodology The tree survey was conducted based on methodology described in Mueller-Dombois and Ellenberg (1974)1 which presents the following guidelines regarding vegetation sampling for forest tree studies: 1. Where the sampling emphasis is on obtaining an accurate estimate of the number of individuals per unit area within large communities vs. sampling for recurring plant assemblages, the sampling is spread over the area in question in the form of small quadrats vs. a single “minimal sampling area”; however, both methods can be combined and the number of small quadrats can be determined to include the “minimal sampling area” of the community (p. 47 and p. 70); 2. The “minimal sampling area” for temperate zone forests with respect to tree stratum should be between 200m2 to 500m2 (p. 48); 3. Individual quadrats for forest plots should cover a minimum of 10m x 10m (p.70); 4. For forest volume studies, a standard of five to ten percent sampling intensity is often appropriate (five to ten percent of an area in question is sampled and then extrapolated to the whole, p. 76); and 5. Appropriate sample size can be determined by calculating a “running mean” of the collected data where the average number of trees in all plots sampled (x/n) is plotted 1 Mueller-Dombois, D and H. Ellenberg. 1974. Aims and methods of vegetation ecology. New York: Ed. J. Wiley & Sons, 547pp. 4 Walter E. Foran Blvd. Suite 209■Flemington, NJ 08822■908.788.9676■fax 908.788.6788■mail@amygreene.com■www.amygreene.com Pennsylvania Office: P.O. Box 551, New Cumberland, PA 17070 ■ 717.525.8162

against the total number of plots sampled (n) and when the resulting curve levels off, the collection of additional data produces insignificant variation and thus no further sampling is necessary (p. 77). Following the “minimal” sampling area necessary to capture the number of individuals per unit area in temperate forest plots, only five 100m2 plots would be necessary to achieve a 500m2 minimal sampling area. This would only represent 0.49 percent of the overall Site; therefore, to ensure an adequate sampling area, ASGECI planned to sample five percent of the Site while concurrently estimating the running mean to evaluate that the sampling size had appropriately captured the diversity at the Site. Five percent sampling intensity on 25 acres would result in sampling of 1.25 acres or 5,059m2 of the Site. This could be captured in 51, 10m x 10m plots. To determine the location of the 51 potential sampling plots, a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) professional randomly selected 51, somewhat evenly spaced points on the aerial mapping that spanned the limit of disturbance (LOD). In the field, approximately half of these points (evenly and appropriately spaced to cover the full LOD) were chosen as a subset. After this subset was sampled, the running mean was calculated to determine if further sampling was required or if variation across the Site was appropriately captured. A shapefile of the points was loaded onto a Trimble GeoHX Geographic Positioning System (GPS) unit so that plots could be located at sub-meter precision. When the location of the random point was identified, the sample plot was arranged so that the established point was placed in the northeast corner of the plot, and from this point meter tape was laid out 10 meters south and 10 meters west to frame the 100m2 plot. Within each plot, the diameter at breast height (DBH) was recorded for all trees four inches DBH or greater. Additionally, tree species and condition were noted. The overall number of trees less than four inches DBH were also noted. Basic statistical analyses (evaluation of normal distribution, mean, standard deviation and confidence intervals) were performed. Results Twenty-two plots were surveyed throughout the LOD (Figure 1) and tree density appeared consistent across the Site. This was further confirmed upon calculation of the running mean, where it was determined that

wo plots were surveyed throughout the LOD (Figure 1) and tree density appeared consistent across the Site. This was further confirmed upon calculation of the running mean, where it was determined that insignificant variation in plot tree density and DBH occurred after the collection of approximately five plots/500m2 (Charts 1 and 2, respectively). Therefore, no additional plots were collected beyond the subset of 22 that were initially selected. Of the 115 live trees observed that were greater than four-inches DBH, species included red maple (Acer rubrum), black birch (Betula lenta), pignut hickory (Carya glabra), shagbark hickory (Carya ovata), mockernut hickory (Carya tomentosa), American beech (Fagus grandifolia), green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), tulip-tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), black gum (Nyssa sylvatica), white oak (Quercus alba), chestnut oak (Quercus prinus), red oak (Quercus rubra), black oak (Quercus velutina), and sassafras (Sassafras albidum). Seventysix percent of these trees had a DBH of 12 inches or less (Chart 3) and only eight trees had a DBH greater than 20 inches. 4 Walter E. Foran Blvd. Suite 209■Flemington, NJ 08822■908.788.9676■fax 908.788.6788■mail@amygreene.com■www.amygreene.com Pennsylvania Office: P.O. Box 551, New Cumberland, PA 17070 ■ 717.525.8162

The average number of trees per plot was 5.23 with a 95% confidence interval of 4.37 to 6.08 per plot, indicating this mean strongly represents the average number of trees across the plots. Tree density data followed a normal distribution (Shapiro-Wilk test, W = 0.95, p-value = 0.33) and therefore data transformation was not necessary. West Orange tree replacement guidelines (Township of West Orange Article 1, 25-27.8 g (a) (b)) differentiate requirements for replacement of trees removed that are between four- and six-inches DBH vs. greater than six-inches DBH. Further splitting the data between these categories, the average number of trees per plot between four- and six-inches DBH is 1.3 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.91 to 1.64 and the average number of trees greater than six-inches DBH per plot is 4.0 with a 95% confidence interval of 3.24 to 4.66. Conclusions and Recommendations Extrapolating the overall mean trees per plot in the LOD (5.23) to the area of disturbance at the Site would result in approximately 212 trees per acre, and approximately 5,300 trees per the 25-acre LOD. For trees between four- and six-inches DBH, the Site contains approximately 53 per acre and 1,325 in the 25-acre LOD. For trees greater than six-inches DBH, the Site contains approximately 162 trees per acre and 4,050 per the 25-acre LOD. If you have any questions or require additional information, please feel free to contact me at (908) 788-9676, extension 32, or Craig Metzgar of our staff at extension 24. Sincerely, AMY S. GREENE ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANTS, INC. Jamie Morgan, CPSS/Certified Senior Ecologist Project Manager Attachments 4 Walter E. Foran Blvd. Suite 209■Flemington, NJ 08822■908.788.9676■fax 908.788.6788■mail@amygreene.com■www.amygreene.com Pennsylvania Office: P.O. Box 551, New Cumberland, PA 17070 ■ 717.525.8162

Appendix A Figures

26 28 29 30 1 18 19 23 25 2 20 24 17 22 27 3 21 12 51 16 11 15 4 14 13 10 5 6 9 49 7 8 48 47 46 Legend 45 44 32 31 33 42 50 39 35 36 43 41 40 34 Approximate Site Boundary Project Limit of Disturbance Tree Survey Plot Sample Point 37 38 Proposed Sample Point, Not Evaluated ² Sources: Tree Survey Sample Plots and Propsoed Sample Plots provided by Amy Greene Environmental, a Davey Company, December 2019. Approximate Site Boundary and Project Limit of Disturbance taken from Limit of Disturbance Stakeout prepared by Paul W. Anderson, Anderson Consulting Services, LLC, December 2019. New Jersey 2015 High Resolution Orthophotography, NAD83 NJ State Plane Feet, MrSID Tiles, State of New Jersey Office of Information Technology (NJOIT), Office of Geographic Information Systems (OGIS), Trenton, NJ, February 2016. Figure 1 Tree Survey Sample Plots AGE Project # 4519 West Essex Highlands Block 179; Lot 32 Township of West Orange Essex County, New Jersey 250 Feet

Appendix B Charts

Chart 1: Running mean - number of trees per plot. Chart 2: Running mean - tree DBH per plot. 4 Walter E. Foran Blvd. Suite 209■Flemington, NJ 08822■908.788.9676■fax 908.788.6788■mail@amygreene.com■www.amygreene.com Pennsylvania Office: P.O. Box 551, New Cumberland, PA 17070 ■ 717.525.8162