Who Should Consider Semaglutide Therapy in Upper Pohatcong, NJ?

One of the largest rural lifestyle retailers nationally continues to expand its regional footprint.

Tractor Supply Co. plans to soon move into the 30,000-square-foot space vacated by Toys ‘R’ Us at Pohatcong Plaza along Route 22 in Pohatcong. The building has sat empty since it lost its junior anchor in April 2018. Toys ‘R’ Us and Babies ‘R’ Us in March 2018 announced plans to liquidate the inventory in all 735 of its U.S. stores, including stores in Puerto Rico.

A Tractor Supply spokeswoman told lehighvalleylive.com the chain plans to open in Pohatcong sometime in spring 2022. The company is known for its extensive mix of products necessary to care for home, property and pets. There’s also heating fuel, along with hardware and maintenance supplies.

Each store typically includes about 15,500 square feet of interior selling space with a similar amount of exterior selling space, the spokeswoman said. The Pohatcong store, she added, plans to hire 15 new workers with at least half being full-time positions. Job candidates can apply here.

Descriptions for various positions at other sites don’t disclose a starting wage and the spokeswoman declined to provide salary details. The descriptions, however, do show a benefits package, including medical, dental and vision plans for both part-time and full-time team members who are deemed eligible based on a minimum hours requirement. Other benefits include a 401(k) plan, health savings account, life insurance, and employee stock purchase plan.

Founded more than eight decades ago, Tractor Supply operates more than 1,900 stores in 49 states and has an e-commerce website, TractorSupply.com. It also owns and operates Petsense, a small-box pet specialty supply retailer focused on meeting the needs of pet owners, primarily in small and mid-size communities across 25 states, and offering a variety of pet products and services.

The forthcoming store will supplement a few other Lehigh Valley area locations, including stores in Lower Nazareth and Upper Macungie townships. Tractor Supply Co. this past summer moved into a portion of the vacant Kmart store in Wind Gap Plaza.

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Each year, the list of NJ communities — large, small, urban and suburban — with the most reported heroin abuse cases gets more surprising.

|Updated Thu, Nov 14, 2019 at 6:47 am ET

NEW JERSEY – A number of New Jersey towns had a sizable number of heroin-abuse cases this past year as the opiate drug continues to be a pervasive problem in the state's cities and suburban areas.

New Jersey has released its annual list of heroin-abuse cases reported by each community, revealing the most recent data of reported cases. Below are the lists of the towns with the highest-to-lowest number of cases from the most recent year available, 2018.

Patch also put together a list of towns with the most heroin abuse cases per 1,000 people (see below).

Find out what's happening in Manasquan-Belmarwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

While some communities such as Newark routinely appear at the top of the list, others, such as Toms River, Berkeley Township and even Point Pleasant Beach have an unusually high rate of abuse cases.

Read more: NJ School Districts With Most Drug, Alcohol Cases: New Data 2019

Find out what's happening in Manasquan-Belmarwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The state statistics show how the drug has not only infested New Jersey's urban areas, but the more unlikely places where suburban stories of abuse have developed into a sad, profound narrative: Brick, Toms River, Lacey, Lower Township, Millville, Berkeley Township and Woodbridge.

The statistics were recently released by the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services in the New Jersey Department of Human Services, and they're based on the number of people seeking treatment for heroin abuse.

The state Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services have cautioned that these numbers are reported by each community, so each jurisdiction is responsible for reporting its results fairly and accurately. Please note that Patch did not include towns that had no reported cases.

Here is the list of New Jersey towns with the highest-to-lowest number of cases per 1,000 people (the number indicates the number of cases per 1,000 people):

Here is the list of New Jersey towns with the highest-to-lowest number of cases:

POHATCONG, N.J. – The Pohatcong Township Land Use Board began a public hearing Monday night for an 840,000-square-foot warehouse known as East Valley Logistics Center, proposed at New Brunswick Avenue and Edge Road.

Under review are amended preliminary and final site plans and variance approvals.

The previous owner of the 103-acre property received approval for a 666,000-square-foot warehouse. However, there a differences between the old plan and the new plan, which was before the board Monday night.

The new plan offers 533 parking spaces, down from 808. Now there are 267 van parking spaces versus 581. The number of loading bays in the new proposal increased to 152 from 118. There are also now 324 trailer storage spaces versus 280 in the previous proposal.

In addition, the plan's impervious coverage decreased slightly from 47% to 46% in the new plan, and there is now an access driveway to Edge Road, where only an emergency gravel road was previously proposed.

Perhaps more important is a new traffic study, which found the trip generation numbers are "significantly less" in the new proposal. Township officials surmise this is because the previous study utilized Institute of Transportation Engineers data, while the new study used New Jersey Department of Transportation figures.

For example, the new study found a total of 361 morning peak single-hour total trips versus 579 previously. The evening single hour registered 403 total trips, opposed to 799 before.

Matthew Schlindwein, a partner with Greek Development, testified, "We feel the size (840,000 square feet) is an appropriate size."

He further testified that neither he nor his company knew the tenant who would occupy the building, but Schlindwein did discuss who typically occupies such facilities.

Storage, light manufacturing, logistics and distribution would be the leading candidates, as the Pohatcong site "is not as attractive to e-commerce" end users. The facility was not built to attract cold storage businesses.

One tenant would be ideal, but Schlindwein added that the building could comfortably house two companies.

Also during Monday's meeting, the board granted partial waivers for a warehouse plan on the site and behind the former Phillipsburg Mall.

Developers from CRG Integrated Real Estate Solutions and J.G. Petrucci have proposed two separate warehouses, known as "The Cubes." The board reviewed the Phillipsburg Mall warehouse, of which the majority — 457,000 square feet — would rest in neighboring Lopatcong Township, with the remaining 392,000 square feet in Pohatcong.

POHATCONG TWP., N.J. – In Warren County, New Jersey, what could be next for the old Phillipsburg Mall property was the topic of discussion Monday night.

There's talk of a warehouse there, and a second one over farm land behind the mall. Officials held an informational meeting about potential changes and what it might mean for the developments.

In Monday night's informational meeting, the development of two separate warehouses was discussed: One covering the former mall, at nearly 850,000 square feet, and another behind the mall area, covering around 570,000 square feet.

The point of the meeting was to let people know the planners proposed having that land behind the mall converted from preservation land, so it would be able to be developed. Some locals claim the proposal includes skirting the current law in place so that could happen.

The mall covers both Pohatcong and Lopatcong townships. Residents from both areas got heated during the meeting, saying they weren't given proper notice about the two warehouses possibly coming in.

Many times, the Pohatcong Township planners said they had it published in the newspaper, to which many people replied they don't get the newspaper.

One Pohatcong resident, who didn't want to give her name, told 69 News the local roads can't handle tractor-trailers. She said she's also worried about what the warehouse developments will do to the environment. Officials should be looking at options other than warehouses, she said.

"I think if they advertise it, and they get the right developer who wants to make the right thing where we have a community center, community activities, that would draw," the Pohatcong Township resident said, "I think it would do wonders for the area."

"We started looking at land-use options for this area. Retail was not all that attractive for many reasons," said one of the Pohatcong planners. "One, we just closed the retail facility in the mall. So retail was not really seen as a viable option for this area."

"The other thing is it does not really have a viable option for Route 22," the planner said. "And that's something that retailers really need in order to survive."

Many residents during the meeting expressed concern that jobs might not be worth the traffic and pollution warehouses could bring with them.

"I've been here a long, long time, and it's sad to see it being taken over by big concrete warehouses that aren't really bringing good paying jobs," the Pohatcong Township resident said.

Residents asked officials how the potential plans could be stopped.

Planners say each town has meetings coming up, during which the townships will review the petition the planners made.

Pohatcong's meeting will be Dec. 20, and Lopatcong's is in January. There will be a 60-day review, during which the Department for Environmental Protection and any other interested state agencies will take a look at the petition. At that point, the full Highlands Council will have a public hearing and will accept public comment.

Pohatcong Township councilwoman Ingrid Gray sent 69 news the following statement sharing her concerns about the proposed plan:

Jared Rosenbaum knows the primal thrill of foraging — a sense of interdependence with the natural world that he wants his son to experience, too.

But as a field botanist, he also understands that foraging is one of the many pressures on native-plant populations. And he has a proposition for gardeners: What if we gave back to the wild edible plants that tempt us on our springtime woodland hikes, by welcoming them into the landscapes we cultivate?

It’s one layer of the habitat restoration and ecological design inspiration that he and his wife, Rachel Mackow, provide to clients of Wild Ridge Plants, in rural Pohatcong Township, N.J. And it’s reflected in many of their mail-order nursery’s plant choices, too.

In Mr. Rosenbaum’s recent book, “Wild Plant Culture: A Guide to Restoring Edible and Medicinal Native Plant Communities,” he revisits that idea: “The time has come to reconnect with our habitats, right where we live, work, and play,” he writes. “Not as museum pieces, but as vital, sustaining elements in our lives, livelihoods, and lifeways.”

That includes our gardens. “These are native plants’ once and future habitats,” Mr. Rosenbaum said in a recent interview, “the places where they used to reside that we have excluded them from for so long. One way to help these plants is to garden with them.”

“With foraging,” he added, “the connection can be very one-sided. It’s not relationship, and it’s not interdependency.”

On his list for building “food habitats” are not just native fruiting shrubs and trees like blueberries, elderberries, beach plums, persimmons and pawpaws, but also herbaceous perennials with edible features.

Could you make room for homegrown wild leeks (Allium tricoccum), otherwise known as ramps? Or ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), whose at once crunchy and tender fiddleheads with their crazy spiral geometry make for a unique mouthfeel?

And did you know that wildflowers you may already be growing — including giant Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum biflorum var. commutatum) and the cutleaf, or tall, coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata) — likewise have springtime garden-to-table potential?

Time to dig in, in the garden and at the table.

Consider the Plight of Ramps

Native plant communities suffer as human development continues to degrade and eliminate habitats. Wild collecting is just one pressure — but it’s one Mr. Rosenbaum contends that gardeners can counteract.

He uses wild leeks, or ramps, as a poster child for the bigger message. In its fleeting moment each spring, that ephemeral woodland ground cover has become the star of restaurant menus. And the resulting demand has only intensified pressure on the plant’s population.

Gardeners may be familiar with the plight of charismatic native woodland wildflowers like Trillium, but the story of ramps is not so different. Both plants have been overharvested, and both rebound slowly, if they do rebound, because they are very slow to establish, requiring many years to reach reproductive maturity from seed. Ramps can take five years to rebound before they eventually colonize and form bulbs underground.

“So how many decades’ worth of wild leeks’ life can you eradicate in an hour with a shovel, going into a wild patch and digging them all up?” Mr. Rosenbaum asked. “It’s sort of staggering.”

In spring, the bulbs send up long, strap-like leaves resembling those of lily of the valley, but with a characteristic alliaceous odor. By late spring, they basically disappear underground until late summer, when flowers emerge, followed by seed production in fall.

The seeds, which resemble tiny black marbles, Mr. Rosenbaum said, are “very dispersal-limited” — meaning that they are not moved by helpers like the wind, or covered in fruit to attract birds that will eat them and fly off, planting the excreted seed elsewhere. Deer mice may cache and move some of the seeds, but only a short distance.

“If wild leeks are in one forested area, and there’s suitable habitat across the road, they are not necessarily going to get there on their own,” Mr. Rosenbaum added. “And so we humans become a potentially excellent dispersal agent, and we’re really good at identifying suitable habitats.”

He and Ms. Mackow have seeded them in shady areas around their farm.

Rather than digging wild leeks in the wild, he suggests ordering seeds or seedlings and using your shovel to prepare what he calls “woodsy beds” for them. Identify an area that’s at least a little bit shaded, beneath deciduous trees or shrubs.

“Then amend it with your more woodland soil-building blocks: leaf compost, a thin layer of wood chips,” he said. “Just try to build up that kind of dark, moisture-retentive organic soil like you would find in a higher-quality woodland.”

Because ramps’ foliage fades after the spring show, Mr. Rosenbaum suggests pairing them with a plant that will perform a second act in the space: spikenard (Aralia racemosa), for example, or black cohosh (Actaea racemosa). Or maybe the little-grown poke milkweed (Asclepias exaltata), found on forest edges.

Once your patch is established, manage the ramps sustainably, harvesting only one or two leaves from each mature plant (and never digging the bulbs).

More Unexpected Spring Greens

Mr. Rosenbaum is looking forward, any day now, to chopping a few ramps and folding them into an omelet or cooking them with some homegrown morels, “just this killer wild-foods combination of the local bioregional spring,” he said.

Who knew that quickly frying ramps leaves in a skillet with some oil makes them balloon up like little corn tortillas? They are also great sautéed in a pan with fiddleheads, the unopened foliage of the ostrich fern, whose season is approaching. (But cooking with fiddleheads can be toxic, so be sure to wash them well and never eat them raw: Always boil them before you sauté or cook them in any other way.)

Anyone who has grown the ostrich fern knows that it is a mover, inclined to colonize. But isn’t that what we often want from a deer-resistant, shady ground cover in workhorse situations — along property edges or in other spaces that we may have unthinkingly filled with the likes of pachysandra or English ivy?

Once unfurled, the ostrich fern’s prehistoric-looking, plume-shaped fronds can stand three feet tall — and will sometimes grow as high as six feet — making them a lot more dramatic than any aggressive, alien ground cover.

But picking too many fiddleheads from an individual plant will reduce its productivity in subsequent years, which is why Mr. Rosenbaum never harvests more than one or two from any individual plant.

Of equally impressive stature, at up to seven feet tall, is giant Solomon’s seal, which has arching stems that hold little white, bell-like flowers in spring and blue fruit in fall. The unopened shoots can be selectively harvested, as you would an ostrich fern’s.

“When it’s still this upright shoot, and the leaves are still tightly clasped at the top, it’s tender and edible,” Mr. Rosenbaum said.

It’s no surprise that Solomon’s seal is in the asparagus family, as its shoots taste somewhat similar to that spring standard.

Mr. Rosenbaum is a champion of a wilder wild creature, too: the Canadian wood nettle (Laportea canadensis), an important host plant of various native butterflies. But gardeners may wish to relegate it to an out-of-the-way spot, as it has stinging hairs like its also-edible botanical cousin, the stinging nettle (Urtica dioica).

Wearing gloves and long sleeves, pick the shoots when they are about six inches high. Then cook them before eating, to destroy the stinging power.

One wild plant that is not well known as an edible, Mr. Rosenbaum said, is the cutleaf, or tall, coneflower — as in, up to nine feet tall. The gold flowers held aloft aren’t what you harvest: The fresh, emerging leaves, known by the Cherokee people as sochan, are the culinary prize.

This plant, which shows up even earlier than dandelions, is perhaps the earliest edible of all, Mr. Rosenbaum said. He harvests leaves from the basal rosette when it’s about two to four inches high.

The plant, adaptable from partial shade to full sun, spreads, too. “I’d give it its own exclusive patch,” Mr. Rosenbaum said.

Then he thought again, offering another suggestion: Try planting it with ostrich fern and giant Solomon’s seal, which hail from the same kind of spots. “That would be a great combination,” he said, “dreamily replicating a little slice of nature that I have never yet gotten to see.”

A Couple of Tubers to Dig

A very different harvest, usually toward season’s end, comes from two natives that form edible underground tubers.

Jerusalem artichoke, or sunchoke, a perennial sunflower, will try to outdo even the tall coneflower in height and inclination to spread. And like the tall coneflower, it will provide a feast for pollinators and birds.

American groundnut (Apios americana) offers another kind of vertical element, scrambling up an elderberry shrub, for example, or a proper trellis. The twining herbaceous perennial vine is a host plant for the silver-spotted skipper butterfly, and produces flowers in rosy shades, with a shape that reveals the plant’s membership in the pea family. The tubers are potato-like, but have more of a bean or nutty flavor.

Part of Mr. Rosenbaum’s work is conducting field studies for public and private clients, and he estimates that he has surveyed more than 15,000 acres in New Jersey. During his work, he has come across many precious scenes, but too often what he sees are the remains of once-vibrant colonies. That has left an indelible impression.

He writes of his “desire to see wild plants and humans share community again,” and is moved to tell plants’ stories in the hope that they will find homes in a wider area.

“Gardeners,” Mr. Rosenbaum noted, “can be at the vanguard of ecological restoration.”

Prepare for a wild and delicious ride.

Margaret Roach is the creator of the website and podcast A Way to Garden, and a book of the same name.

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