The New Jersey Pinelands Commission delayed a vote on a controversial proposal to clear more than 3,000 nonnative trees that are impeding the views from the Bass River State Forest fire tower.
The full 15-member commission was scheduled to vote on the application from the state Department of Environmental Protection to clear just over 16 acres of trees from around the tower during its meeting Friday, but the vote was postponed due to a third-party appeal filed by one of the plan’s opponents.
Carol Bitzberger, a Bass River resident who testified against the tree clearing during a public hearing on the application on June 8, filed an appeal with the commission in response to the commission’s executive director and staff recommendation that the tree clearing be approved due to the safety risk the trees pose to operations at the 86-foot-tall fire tower, which is used by the state Forest Fire Service to spot smoke from forest fires and to report conditions to firefighters on the ground.