That feed mill was Richland Grain Company and Paragon Poultry, my dad's operation. Its progenitor was founded by Andy Levari, who built the first feed mixer and warehouse behind Richland General Store in the '40s in support of the growing egg industry. We partnered with Andy on turkey range-land.
Yes, the Richland Saw Mill Park oak is dead-dead, and it was mismanagement that killed it; and I have the evidence and expertise to substantiate this claim. The municipality was forewarned years earlier that their park “improvements” put the tree at risk. White oaks are exquisitely adapted to Pinelands poor soil conditions (low pH, low nutrients, fast drainage). During park development roots were injured by cultivating the ground and trenching for irrigation (and lighting); and the rooting environment was radically altered to support a manicured lawn (fertilizer, lime, sprinkling) over the tree’s need for a woodland soil environment.
Without proper stormwater management facilities in place, we now flood from the new sidewalks and other redevelopment “improvements” that were done without notice and in violation of multiple Pinelands rules. Adding to the earlier tree injuries mentioned above stormwater now floods the park and adjacent houses. No wonder the oak tree's roots rotted, as this species is intolerant to wet feet.
Without redevelopment stormwater management, we now flood two- to three-times a year.
Two-years back I spoke to the Pinelands Commissioners at a regular meeting explaining why Saw Mill Park’s tree was going to die and there was nothing that could be done about it.
You cannot take a Pinelands-adapted tree and subject it to the kind of plant-people pressures that come along with urbanization. I continued that the same can be said about the redevelopment gentrification of Pinelands Villages. Their distinctive character too will die with forced urbanization, which is in direct conflict with the Pinelands mission statement.
Saw Mill Park Oak was in my estimation about 175-years old, and cannot be seen in the c.1888 woodcut below.
Old sketch of Richland Village at southeast corner of Main Avenue and US Route 40. (A) the Jonathan Harris Smith house, Richland’s first residence and is considered eligible for listing in the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places under National Register criterion. (B) Johnny Smith’s seed store, the first business in town. Unfortunately the structure was recently torn down. (C) Smith’s steam-powered sawmill, which was dismantled from the Cannon Range field (Milmay) and rebuilt in anticipation of the West Jersey and Atlantic Railroad. Its footprint is now covered by a caboose display within the newly constructed (without Pinelands permits) “Sawmill Park.” Sketch from Jones (c.1888: 9, Richland New Jersey: 20,000 Acres of Farming Land.
S-M
