Monroe Township (Gloucester County), NJ Tree Protection: Protected Tree Species (2026)

Monroe Township, in Gloucester County, protects plants and trees through § 175-147 (Vegetation) rather than a stand-alone tree ordinance, and the protections attach to development review. Subsection A bars any development unless it is designed to avoid irreversible adverse impacts on the survival of any local populations of the threatened or endangered plants of the Pinelands cited in N.J.A.C. 7:50-6.27 and of the Comprehensive Management Plan as amended.

For trees, Subsection C(1) says that, where practical, clearing and soil disturbance for uses other than agriculture, forestry and resource extraction shall avoid wooded areas, including New Jersey's Record Trees as published by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in 1991 and periodically updated. Subsection F(1) is the construction protection rule. All trees are to be retained within 25 feet of a building site and within 10 feet from parking areas and utility easements, and they are protected during construction by a four-foot wooden snow fence installed along the dripline. Equipment shall not be operated over the root system, no fill or material stockpiles are permitted under the dripline, and trees shall not be used for roping, cables or fencing, nor shall nails or spikes be driven into trees.

Subsection F(2) requires all trees with a diameter of five inches or greater to be indicated on the site plan and grading sheets, with size, species and condition. The engineer/landscape architect of the Township's Planning or Zoning Board inspects the trees and determines which must be preserved or protected. Trees greater than 25 inches in diameter are specimen trees and must be preserved.

Subsection G covers compensatory planting. Every effort shall be made to avoid removing trees with a caliper of five inches or greater during subdividing, site plan approval, grading or installing improvements. If trees indicated to be saved are damaged or removed, the developer shall install trees of at least three-inch caliper for every tree of one-inch caliper removed or damaged. The municipal engineer is responsible for compliance and mitigation inspections under Subsections F and G.