FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 1, 2009

Parks First Deputy Commissioner Liam Kavanagh, City of New York Vice Chancellor Iris Weinshall, York College CUNY Provost Dr.Ivelaw L. Griffith and York College CUNY students today kicked off CUNY& citywide volunteer tree planting day by planting trees and flowers at the York College campus in Queens. The CUNY community students, administrators, friends and family planted over 4,000 trees on CUNY campuses and nearby parks throughout the five boroughs.

We are thrilled to partner with the City University of New York,” said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.  “The plantings today bring us closer to the goal of planting one million trees by 2017. Trees not only provide shade, clean the air and cool the environment, but will beautify campuses and their neighborhoods throughout New York City.

At York College, Parks foresters taught students tree planting techniques and the York Plant Club offered flower planting demonstrations. The tree plantings will be expanded this spring by the York College landscaping team, which will plant over 160 additional trees to green the campus landscape. CUNY is receiving the trees through MillionTreesNYC, a cornerstone of Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC initiative to create a more sustainable New York City. MillionTreesNYC is a campaign to plant and care for one million trees by 2017. As part of MillionTreesNYC, Parks and CUNY have designed a landscape plan to green citywide campuses with thousands of new trees this spring.

We are very pleased to have our campus be one of the beneficiaries of Mayor Bloomberg’s MillionTreesNYC campaign, said York College President Marcia V. Keizs. Our landscape is transformed with the strategic and thoughtful planting of so many and such a variety of trees. This arboretum will become an enduring education for generations of students to come.

Volunteer plantings of the more than 4,000 new trees took place at University Woods, St. Mary's Park across from Lehman College, and Mosholu Parkway near Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx; the Peristyle and Grand Army Plaza in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, St. Nicholas Park in Manhattan; York College, Queensbridge Park, Kissena Corridor, and Queensborough Community College in Queens; and the College of Staten Island. The additional trees on and around CUNY campuses will contribute to cleaner air and water, energy savings, cooler streets, and a healthier, more environmentally sustainable city.

Through a mix of public and private plantings, Parks and MillionTreesNYC partner New York Restoration project are engaging community partners and citizen volunteers to plant in places such as schoolyards, public housing sites, health care facilities, business districts, commercial and residential developments, front yards and other private lands. Today’s CUNY plantings will bring the total number of trees planted since the launch of the MillionTreesNYC initiative in October 2007 to almost 200,000.

The CUNY planting effort is funded through grants to the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City. For more information about MillionTreesNYC, visit www.milliontreesnyc.org or call 311.

Contact: Jama Adams (212) 360–1311