By Barbara A. Preston for The Montgomery News | May 6, 2026 (updated 3 pm)
What started as a letter-to-the editor in The Montgomery News in 1985 is now a 40-year staple institution of the community.
At a local tree planting in Montgomery Veterans Park on April 24, Ewa Zak and her husband Greg Kaganowicz told a reporter how the Montgomery Shade Tree Committee got its start.
Zak wrote a letter to the editor to critique how a local developer was removing trees and replacing them with berms. New young trees were planted atop the berms, then promptly died.
Zak said there had been a beautiful row of white pines on River Road that a developer suddenly removed. “I mean, just like that,” she said. “And I got really upset and wrote one of my very infrequent letters to the newspaper. Don Matthews was mayor, and he decided to form a shade tree committee.”
Zak was one of the first members. By year two, she ran the committee as its chairperson — a role she held for 20 years. Larry Koplik of the Harlingen section of town stepped up as the next chairperson in 2008.
In nearly three decades of volunteer service, Koplik ensured Montgomery’s trees, parks, and streets continued to benefit from Zak’s original long-term vision to build a healthier, more diverse, and more beautiful environment in the township.
After 28 years of unwavering service, Koplik retired on December 31, 2025. He leaves behind a legacy of tireless advocacy for Montgomery’s green canopy, driven by a deep-seated passion for trees and a commitment to diversity. John Waltz succeeded him in January, and is now chairperson of the seven-member committee.
Koplik’s tenure was marked by several significant projects, many of which were conceived and inspired by Ewa Zak, a founder of the committee and his influential predecessor.
Van Horn Park: One of the major undertakings was the planting of numerous trees at Van Horn Park, which was previously nearly barren of trees, Koplik said.
Working with a shared funding arrangement with Rocky Hill and Montgomery Township, the committee executed a multi-year planting plan that introduced species such as catalpa trees (known for their distinctive cigarette-shaped pods), sugar maples, hackberries, shingle oaks, and American lindens to provide shade, especially around the bleachers and playground.
Street Trees and the 1988 Plan: Koplik also took on the mission of finally completing a street tree planting plan that began in 1988 and was intended to finish by 2000. This involved strategic planting of street trees—those in the township’s right-of-way between the road and sidewalk—to create a unified, aesthetically pleasing “allée” of trees.
A recurring challenge for Koplik was the Shade Tree Committee’s perpetually “minimal” budget, which he consistently argued should be increased to reflect the importance of the town’s trees. He recalled years where the budget dropped from over $40,000 to as low as $9,000, even as costs rose and the need for tree replacement grew.
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The most significant ecological threat during his time was the Emerald Ash Borer, which has killed millions of ash trees nationwide — and thousands locally. Anticipating the arrival of the pest, Koplik warned the Township Committee about the necessary, substantial costs for removal and replacement. The brittle nature of dead ash wood makes the numerous affected trees along routes like the D&R canal path a significant safety hazard.
Koplik also championed the importance of diversity in planting, a lesson learned from the catastrophic loss of American Elms to Dutch Elm Disease decades ago.
Following Zak’s example, he ensured long streets were not planted with a single species, often alternating species or planting different types on different blocks to ensure the town’s canopy would not be wiped out by a single disease or pest.
A current focus is planting native species and avoiding nonnatives like the Chinese Ginkgo and Kousa Dogwood. Another focus is eliminating the overgrowth of invasive Bradford pear trees, which smell like fish and aggravate allergies.
A struggle is ensuring newly planted trees are watered, especially during droughts, a task the Parks and Public Works departments back then often could not prioritize. This issue, coupled with sidewalk damage from root systems, led to a years-long difference of opinion with the Engineering Department, which favored fewer trees, Koplik said.
A compromise evolved to experiment with root barriers installed vertically between the tree and the sidewalk to direct root growth downward.
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Among the committee’s most enduring achievements is the Arbor Day program, which Eva Zak started and is now in its 40th year. Every year, volunteers distribute a native tree seedling to every third grader in Montgomery, teaching them about the importance of trees, how to plant them, and adding hundreds of trees to private properties over the decades.
Even in retirement, Koplik plans to continue his personal commitment to the town’s trees, including caring for newly planted hickories in the Arboretum and engaging in the meticulous, multi-year process of “resurrecting” certain trees.
The new chairperson, John Waltz says he does not have new plans just yet. “I just want more trees to get planted.”
