New York City Grows Greener By 20,000 Trees

In October, New Yorkers embraced the first opportunity to plant trees in public parks following the September 16th tornados, which destroyed thousands of trees in our urban forest. Over 230 volunteers joined elected officials and community leaders to kick off Mayor Bloomberg’s MillionTreesNYC Fall 2010 Planting Day in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx on Saturday, October 23. Throughout the day, about 1,500 volunteers from all five boroughs planted 20,000 trees in various parks and natural areas, expanding the urban forest within weeks of the recent storm.

The tree plantings took place in the boroughs hard hit by the storm—Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island—and beautified the Bronx as well. Mulch at the planting sites was composed of reused woodchips from trees felled in the storm. The tree plantings were complemented by the hard work of an additional force of 4,000 community volunteers, organized by Partnerships for Parks, who beautified parks and public spaces as part of It’s My Park Day.

MillionTreesNYC Fall 2010 Planting Day is the largest tree planting day of the fall planting season, measured by number of trees. The plantings are part of MillionTreesNYC, a citywide initiative to plant and care for one million trees by 2017. The goal of MillionTreesNYC is to increase the city’s overall tree canopy, which cools and cleans the air and provides beauty and shade for New Yorkers.

Approximately 1,500 volunteers from a variety of churches, schools and community organizations planted 20,000 trees in parks and natural areas, including:

Bronx
-- Ferry Point Park – 1,700 trees were planted by over 100 volunteers (Friends of Ferry Point Park, MillionTreesNYC Training Program and Manhattan Comprehensive).
-- Pelham Bay Park – 2,500 trees were planted by over 200 volunteers (The Sierra Club).
-- Van Cortlandt Park – 3,500 trees were planted by 230 volunteers (Con Edison, NYC Parks Teen Society and Harlem Children's Zone).

Brooklyn
-- Floyd Bennett Field – 1,500 trees were planted by over 150 volunteers (Aviator All Star Cheer Team, Boy Scouts, Earth Day NY, National Honor Society and Alpha Phi Delta).
-- Marine Park – 2,000 trees were planted by 150 volunteers (New York University, Visiting Nurse Service of New York, Washington Irving HS Alumni, BuildOn and KPMG).

Queens
-- Powell’s Cove Park – 850 trees were planted by over 150 volunteers (Coastal Preservation Network, Tzu Chi Foundation, Mount Moriah AME Church, St. John’s Preparatory School and P.S. 475/Richmond Hill High School).

Staten Island
-- Clove Lakes Park – 2,500 trees were planted by over 150 volunteers (Girls Scouts, AHRC New York City, Right Now Technologies and St. Teresa Soccer).
-- Conference House Park – 1,000 trees were planted by 70 volunteers (Girl Scouts, NYC Parks and Juniors on a Journey).
-- Wolfe’s Pond Park – 1,500 trees were planted by over 100 volunteers (Girl Scout Troop #5394 and City Hall).

Trees planted in Brooklyn’s Marine Park and Staten Island’s Conference House Park and Clove Lakes Park were organized into research plots to allow scientists to study the ecological effects and benefits of urban trees. Researchers will analyze soil nutrients, soil carbon, and plant diversity and abundance in the research plots to determine how urban forests can be managed to maximize benefits such as regulating air temperatures, filtering pollution, trapping rainwater and storing carbon dioxide.

The Fall 2010 Planting Day coincided with the semiannual It’s My Park Day sponsored by Partnerships for Parks, a joint program of the City Parks Foundation and the Parks Department. Partnerships for Parks supported more than 4,000 volunteers who planted bulbs, painted fences, cleaned up and celebrated their communities at 110 projects and events around the city. Nearly 140 dedicated community groups contributed project ideas for It’s My Park Day to help beautify 100 neighborhood parks in all five boroughs, creating greener, safer and more enjoyable public spaces.

MillionTreesNYC, a cornerstone of Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC vision to establish a healthier, more sustainable New York City, is a public-private partnership between Parks and Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project. Since MillionTreesNYC was launched in October 2007, nearly 400,000 trees have been planted. New Yorkers are encouraged to donate to MillionTreesNYC to fund replacement trees for those lost in the September 16th storm. For more information, visit www.milliontreesnyc.org or call 311.