MillionTreesNYC is a Citywide, public-private initiative with an ambitious goal: to plant and care for one million new trees across the City's five boroughs over the next decade.
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Million Trees NYC - A PlaNYC initiative with NYC Parks and New York Restoration Project
Million Trees NYC Training Program

Million Trees NYC Training Program logo

The MillionTrees Training Program is a collaborative initiative between the City of New York Department of Parks and Recreation and The New York Restoration Project. The program helps work towards a more environmentally sustainable healthy living for the future through a 7-month green-collar job course of training that is specifically designed to teach, educate and motivate young adults to become more aware and proactive in the wellness of the environment while jointly gaining employment and life skills.

Please note, the application period for the 2010 class has ended. Check this page for updates about future classes.

The MillionTrees Training Program provides intensive training in three specific fields: Arboriculture, Ecological Restoration, and Garden Restoration and Design. Provided below is a brief description of each field of work in order to better understand our program logistics:

MTTP Arboriculture Track:
This field works with the Forestry Divisions of NYC Parks, Central Park Conservancy and the Prospect Park Alliance to prune, climb and care for trees. It puts to work acquired tree stewardship, pruning and planting techniques, as well as tree identification and inspection skills.

MTTP Ecological Restoration Track:
This field works with the Natural Resources Group, NYC Parks, Central Park Conservancy and the Prospect Park Alliance in the protection, restoration and management of natural areas of NYC. Projects include erosion control, manual and chemical aquatic and terrestrial invasive plant removal, and green roof installation. The Ecological Restoration Track also supports community-led or sponsored restoration, greening and cleanup projects.

MTTP Garden Restoration/Landscape Design Track: This field assists in executing MillionTreesNYC community planting strategies through site surveying, tree and materials procurement, site preparation, planting, outreach and stewardship activities. The Garden Restoration/Landscape Design Track also develops and executes best practices of landscape design and planting standards - Visions of Horticulture - for the New York Restorations Project's 57 community gardens.

The MillionTree Training Program also provides a host of top quality technical training by which each trainee is certified.

Trainings and Certifications consist of:

  • 108- Hour Continuing education credits from New York Botanical Garden (NYBG)
  • Trees New York Citizen Pruner and Climber/Pruner Certificates
  • Pesticide/Herbicide Application Apprentice NYC DEC
  • Master Compost Training Certificate from the NYC Compost Project

Throughout the 7 months of green job training, trainees are also engaged in Life Skills Training. These include developing skills related to the practices of Healthy Living, Time Management, Financial Planning, and Customer Service/Conflict Resolution. We believe Life Skills Training, in addition to the Green Field Technical training, will build up the trainee and develop them into a well rounded individual for their future career path.

The MillionTrees Training Program also offers Driver's License Education through which we train young adults to receive their Drivers license and/or Commercial Drivers License.

Read more about the MillionTreesNYC Training Program in the news!

MillionTreesNYC Trainees Class of 2009-2010 in Action




MillionTreesNYC 2010