For 15 years, certified forester Bob Williams watched over 5,000 acres of woodlands and wetlands in Atlantic County’s Estell Manor. He thinned trees, conducted controlled burns, and planted and fenced seedlings of the increasingly threatened Atlantic white cedar.

When the Christie administration bought the land from Lenape Farms Inc. eight months ago, Williams and the landowners who hired him were lauded by state officials for encouraging forest regeneration, reducing wildfire hazards, and protecting wildlife.

Last week, the forester returned to the site to find sections of the $10,000 fencing down, deer prints in the mud, and many of the seedlings gone.

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