Plant a Tree in Ewing for America’s 250th Birthday

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It’s not too early to get started!

In celebration of the United States’ 250th birthday, the Ewing Green Team and Environmental Commission have joined forces with the Mayor and Council, local businesses, and residents, to promote an audacious and worthy goal – planting 250 new trees in Ewing!

Our ask: Give America the best birthday gift ever. Plant a tree!

250 Trees for America's 250th!

We can’t do it alone. We need your help! To help us achieve our shared dream of a more beautiful, healthy, and environmentally friendly Ewing, we ask that you take a simple but important step: Plant one tree!

There are many reasons to plant a tree: trees purify the air, mitigate the effects of climate change, and prevent stormwater runoff while increasing the value of your property and beautifying your neighborhood for generations to come. In fact, studies have even shown that trees enhance your mental and physical health.

DID YOU KNOW that Ewing’s tree canopy cover is low compared to the average statewide in New Jersey? (27.4% vs. 40%)

OUR GOAL: to inspire 250+ Ewing residents, businesses, and organizations to plant or pledge to plant at least 250 trees in town. This can be on your own property or by donating to plant a tree in one of Ewing’s parks and public lands.

It will soon be peak Fall planting time and we encourage you to let us know of your tree planting plans by taking ourPLEDGE TO PLANTa tree in your yard for our 250 Tree Initiative! We urge you to join with us and make your new tree one of the official 250 Trees for America’s 250th! Just click the link to fill out our quick, simple form and become a part of our movement to plant 250 trees in Ewing.

Sign the pledgeand then let us know when you have planted your tree(s).  We will provide the encouragement and the know-how: from choosing your tree, planting it, and taking care of it. 

We need your help! Help us meet our goal of planting at least 250 trees before the end of 2026.   Ewing businesses: look for ways that you can participate in our 250 Trees for America’s 250th Campaign coming soon.  For more information email us at ewinggreenteam@gmail.com.

Additional Resources

Check out Ewing Township’s Caring for Your Trees webpage at ewingnj.org/caring-for-your-trees for detailed information. The page covers a wide variety of tree topics including regular maintenance, pruning (say no to tree topping), mulching tips (no volcanoes!), choosing your tree, and much more.

Plant These First
Plant These First

Ride for a Cause: Ewing Fall Spin Bike Tour Benefits Younity

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Registration is now open for the 11th annual Ewing Fall Spin bike tour!  Won’t you come ride with us?

The tour, hosted by Mayor Bert Steinmann, the Ewing Green Team and the Ewing Recreation Department  will be on Saturday, October 18, 2025, starting at 8:15 a.m. The event will start and end at Campus Town at The College of New Jersey. All proceeds from this year’s event will be donated to Younity, formerly Womanspace.  “The annual bike tour is a great opportunity to come together as a community, enjoy a morning of exercise and support a great cause,” said Mayor Steinmann. “All the proceeds benefit Younity and will make a real difference for those they serve.”

Individuals or teams, ages 16 years and older, are encouraged to register early. Sign up as individuals or come as a team of friends, family members or co-workers. The Fall Spin registration fee is $15 for students: TCNJ, Rider, & 16-17 year olds, $20 for adults (individuals 18 years or older) and $40 for a Family Plan (3 or more individuals living in the same household 16 years and older). All people registering by October 11th will receive a T-shirt. Register online through CivicRec, fill out and return the registration form or call the Recreation office at 609-883-1776 x 6202 for assistance. Day-of-event registration will begin at 7:45 a.m.  The tour will be escorted by Ewing Police and free bike inspections will be available.

First Time Bike Tour Chairperson, George Steward, shared the following updates:  This year’s 12.5 mile route has been finalized. It will be a leisurely paced ride throughout Ewing Township neighborhoods.  The exact route will be available shortly, but just a quick heads up that we will revisit parts of our very first ride.  Our 2 rest stops this year will be Ewing Town Center (ETC) with a visit to “Hero’s Way” and Ewing’s Benjamin Temple House at Temple Park off Federal City Road. 

“I’ve learned one very important thing so far in my new role. It takes a lot of wonderful people to put this ride together. I want to thank the Township of Ewing, everyone on the EGT Bike Committee, the Ewing Green Team at-large, Ewing Campus Town and our rest stop hosts for their timely help and cooperation with this year’s early planning process.” 

The Ewing Green Team (www.ewinggreenteam.org) was established in 2009 by municipal resolution under the auspices of the Ewing Environmental Commission, and is part of the statewide Sustainable Jersey effort (www.sustainablejersey.com). The Ewing Green Team envisions a township that incorporates sustainability into the actions and decision-making processes of community members and municipal offices to create and maintain sustainable ways of living; builds strong and diverse economic opportunities; and cultivates a community that welcomes people from all walks of life.

For more information on the Ewing Fall Spin, please visit https://ewinggreenteam.org/ewingfallspin, email ewinggreenteam@gmail.com or call George Steward at 609-439-7060. 

Ewing Joins the Great American Cleanup with a Community Spring Clean-Up Day

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Ewing Township is proud to take part in Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup, the nation’s largest community improvement program. This annual effort brings together millions of volunteers across the country to clean up parks, streets, and neighborhoods—and now, Ewing residents have a chance to get involved locally!

Mayor Bert H. Steinmann invites all residents to join the Ewing Community Spring Clean-Up on Saturday, May 3rd. The event kicks off at 8:30 AM at John S. Watson Park and is part of a larger movement to keep our community clean, green, and beautiful.

Participants can pick up orange trash bags starting Monday, April 28th at three locations:

  • Hollowbrook Community Center (Room 203)
  • Reception Desk at Town Hall (2 Jake Garzio Drive, upper level)
  • Public Works Department (136 Scotch Road)

Each volunteer may take up to three bags. On cleanup day, choose any area of Ewing that could use a little TLC, fill the bags with litter, and drop them off at any Ewing park next to a trash receptacle or at the Public Works Department by 2:30 PM.

Be sure to register your participation and track your cleanup impact by scanning the QR code on the flyer or visiting https://forms.gle/M8NSbDRMBVKtkA7G6.

Let’s come together to show our Ewing pride and help make our town shine!

Rain Garden Design Workshop

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We invite you to join us on Saturday, May 17th for a 2-hour workshop to learn more about the benefits of adding a rain garden to your landscape. You will enhance its beauty, all while improving drainage, and creating a wildlife habitat.

Rain gardens can help us manage storm water runoff from rooftops, driveways, lawns, roads, and other hard surfaces. They look like regular perennial gardens, but they are much more. During a storm, a rain garden fills with water, and the water slowly filters into the ground rather than running into storm sewers. By capturing storm water, rain gardens help to reduce the impact of human activities and pollution in the environment such as road sediment/salt, fertilizers, pesticides, bacteria from pet waste, eroded soil, grass clippings, litter, etc. This helps protect the health of our waterways.  Rain gardens also add beauty to neighborhood and provide wildlife habitat.

In this 2-hour workshop, you can learn how to plan and plant your own rain garden, enhancing your property and your neighborhood, about the stormwater benefits of rain gardens, providing watershed-wide benefits with native plants, and go home with a plant list or draft design for your yard.  Now is the perfect time to plan a rain garden for planting this spring!

Presenters: Olvia Spildooren from The Watershed Institute.   Olivia is the River-Friendly Coordinator

Event Summary

Event: Rain Garden Design Workshop
Date: Saturday, May 17, 2025
Time: 10 am – Noon
Location: Hollowbrook Community Center, Community Room, 320 Holllowbrook Drive, Ewing, NJ 08638
Pre-registration: https://thewatershed.doubleknot.com/event/ewing-rain-garden-design-workshop/3099881

Countdown to Dark Sky Week | April 21 – 28, 2025

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Starry skies are a vanishing treasure because light pollution is washing away our view of the cosmos. It not only threatens astronomy but also disrupts wildlife and affects human health. The glows over cities and towns- seen clearly from space- are testament to the billions of dollars spent in wasted energy lighting up the sky.

What is Light Pollution?

It is adding light to brighten the outdoors. It is a fully human made form of pollution. Light pollution disrupts wildlife, impacts human health, wastes money and energy, and contributes to climate change.
In an average year in the US alone, outdoor lighting uses about 120 terawatt-hours of energy, mostly to illuminate streets and parking lots. That’s enough energy to meet New York City’s electricity needs for two years!

Dark Sky International estimates that 30% of outdoor lighting in the US alone is wasted, mostly by lights that aren’t shielded correctly. That adds up to $3.3 billion and the release of 21 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. To offset all that carbon dioxide, we need to plant 875 million trees annually.

How can you help?

• Join us by participating in Dark Sky Week April 21-28,2025.
• Watch the video below and clip on the various links included in the publication to learn more.
• Turn off all unnecessary lighting inside and outside.
• Make sure outdoor lights are properly shielded and direct light down instead of up into the sky.
• Close window blinds, shades, and curtains at night to keep light inside.
• Go outside and enjoy the stars.