Trees

December 12, 2022

Interact with nearly 1M NYC trees through a new digital map

New Yorkers will now be able to interact with nearly one million of New York City's trees through a new first-of-its-kind digital map. The NYC Parks Department last week released the NYC Tree Map, an interactive map that allows New Yorkers to see the unique IDs, species information, and maintenance status of more than 800,000 of the city's street and park trees.
See more here
November 2, 2022

Brooklyn Council Member hopes to plant 3,400 trees in his district, and wants neighbors to chip in

Brooklyn residents should expect to see a lot more greenery over the next couple of years. Council Member Lincoln Restler on Wednesday announced a plan to plant 3,400 trees in vacant street tree pits across District 33 in an effort to max out the district's street tree capacity. The city's Parks Department has committed to planting 2,200 trees over the next four years, with Restler's office calling upon the community to help fund the planting of an additional 1,200 trees.
See more here
February 14, 2022

NYC borough presidents call on Adams to plant one million new trees by 2030

All five of New York City's borough presidents are calling on Mayor Eric Adams to improve the city's green spaces by planting one million new trees by 2030. During a joint press conference on Monday, Borough Presidents Mark Levine, Antonio Reynoso, Vanessa Gibson, Donovan Richards, and Vito Fossella introduced the "Million More Trees" initiative, a program first started by former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and completed by Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2015. Also included as part of the initiative is the goal of increasing the city's tree canopy to 30 percent by 2035.
See more here
June 15, 2017

City announces $106M plan to keep neighborhoods cool this summer

After a few days of extreme heat, Mayor de Blasio launched a $106 million initiative on Wednesday to protect New Yorkers from the risks of dangerously high temperatures this summer. The Cool Neighborhoods program aims to lessen the effects of the “urban heat island effect,” a problem that occurs in New York City due to its abundance of heat-holding asphalt and concrete and lack of greenery. According to Gothamist, to reduce heat-related health risks and deaths, the city plans on planting more trees on streets and in parks, supporting forest restoration efforts and painting roofs of homes in vulnerable areas with reflective white paints.
Find out more
March 10, 2017

How to get a tree planted on your block – for free

In 2007, officials launched MillionTreesNYC, an initiative with the aim of greening New York City through the planting and care of one million trees. While the city surpassed its goal in 2015, planting 1,017,634 trees by the year's end, efforts to increase leafy canopy coverage across the five boroughs has not wavered since. With that said, if you're a New Yorker who feels that your street could use a bit more greenery (ahem, Sean Lennon), getting a tree planted on your block is much easier than you may think. By simply filling out a request with the New York Parks Department, you can get a tree planted, for free, so long as the plot you have in mind is suitable for planting.
find out more details here
January 12, 2017

Interactive chart reveals the diversity of NYC’s street trees

Just as New York's population is a melting pot of ethnicities, the city's tree population is just as diverse. A new interactive chart from Cloudred give us a look at how tree genus breaks down across the five boroughs. As seen above, if one zooms in on the largest chunks of graph across Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island and the Bronx, it becomes quickly apparent that maple, oak, pear, and planetree trees have their roots firmly planted in the ground—as do a bunch of "unknowns," which account for about 14 percent of the city's total tree population.
find out more here
April 14, 2015

This Map Lets You Explore NYC’s 592,130 Street Trees by Species and Trunk Thickness

If you feel like your allergies go into overdrive when you're in the city, don’t be so quick to blame it on all the dust and must being kicked up by passing cars. As it turns out, New York’s flora is far more diverse and abundant than you’d suspect. Jill Hubley, a Brooklyn web developer, took data from the 2005-2006 Street Tree Census and found that there are about 592,130 trees on public streets alone. But beyond pinpointing where each street tree sits, Hubley's map also identifies a tree's species and trunk thickness. What emerges from her study is a kaleidoscope of colors and a fascinating look at the city's biodiversity.
Find out more here