City of Forest Day shows how to be a good tree neighbor
Consider this a prime opportunity to get off the internet and touch some actual grass
When most people picture New York City, they see skyscrapers, subways, and sidewalks, not trees. But here’s the surprise: more than 40% of the city is covered in green space (parks, street trees, community gardens, natural areas). Scientists call this the “urban canopy,” and it makes New York one of the greenest big cities in the country.
Trees are the lungs of New York. They filter air pollution, soak up stormwater and lower neighborhood temperatures by as much as 10 degrees on hot summer days. A single mature tree can absorb up to 48 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Street trees also boost property values, muffle city noise and provide habitat for birds and pollinators. And, they’re just plain nice to be around: just five minutes around greenery can reduce stress, lower blood pressure and improve mood, and exposure to trees fosters a stronger sense of community and wellbeing in neighborhoods.
In a city where summers are getting hotter and storms more frequent, these quiet services are becoming essential. Trees are critical city infrastructure. In New York City alone, more than 592,000 street trees generate $121.9 million in annual benefits, including $35 million in stormwater interception, $27.8 million in energy savings and $52 million in property and aesthetic value.
But we are not as kind in return. City trees are troubled. They’re beset by an endless hose of dog urine, burrowed into by rats (then have their roots entombed in concrete when the holes get patched), have branches strung up with plastic bodega bags and suffer from poorly maintained tree beds littered with trash and featuring dry, compacted soil. In short, our street trees are stressed and need neighbors who care.
On October 4, New Yorkers are invited to celebrate City of Forest Day, a citywide event highlighting the importance of our trees and the role each of us can play in caring for them. You’ll find everything from sunrise hikes on Staten Island to guided bird walks on Randall’s Island, tree planting and canopy care workshops, forest bathing sessions, leaf identification walks, nature art and storytelling and after-party gatherings under the trees. There’s truly something for everyone, across all five boroughs.
“Trees actually have to be cared for, to continue to be beneficial,” says Sana Khader, training and resources manager for Partnerships for Parks, a capacity-building initiative that trains local groups to steward their green spaces. “They’re living things, and we often ignore them. My work is about getting people to understand how important trees are, and the part you can play as a New Yorker to protect them.”
And if you’re looking for an excuse to lower your screen time, City of Forest Day is part of the Groove’s #GetOffTheInternet series. One antidote for doomscrolling is leaf peeping. We interviewed Khader about why City of Forest Day is important and why you should take advantage of it.
Hey! If you can see this, that means you're one of our free readers. We hope you enjoy our work; consider becoming a member for as little as $6 a month and you'll unlock sweet perks too.
“There’s a breadth of actions that you can take to steward trees around you every single day. It can be as simple as going outside of your apartment and putting mulch around your street tree, or literally like watering it with a cup of water from your sink,” Khader said. “We all have a piece in this.”
NYG: What would people be surprised to know about New York trees?
Sana Khader: Trees have to be taken care of, and oftentimes they're so overlooked, because we think, oh, trees, they’re just there. They're always going to be here. Trees actually have to be cared for, to continue to be beneficial. They are living things and we just ignore them.
I work in this space and I didn't even know some of this until a couple months ago. For example, 40% of New York City is green, either parkland or natural areas, which is insane. And I've had to look at this info several times just to make sure that it's actually true.
So much of our lives are lived in the built environment, in our apartments, in our offices, in the subway. If you actually zoomed out as if you were a bird, you would see that so much of New York is green. I think we spend so much time in the human-created spaces that you forget that there's actually a lot of greenery around us in the city.
When I moved to New York, my relationship with nature became more complex, because I was forced to pay closer attention to the trees and the bushes and the flowers that actually were there. I ended up noticing them more. I've always been someone who's pretty observant about nature and the shape of this leaf or the way this vine is growing. That's how my mind is oriented, but living in the city really honed that for me because I had to look for it. I've actually deepened my relationship with trees while living in the city.
Dave Colon
How can we relate to trees, or why should we?
Everyone has their own unique lens! Not everyone is thinking about the shape of the bark, right? Maybe they are taking care of a tree and they're just happy to be outside and using their hands to do something physical. Maybe that's just a reprieve from the rest of their day. Maybe they start doing this work and they realize that they really like chatting with people who pass by and ask them what they're doing. There's all sorts of different benefits we can receive that are related to our own personalities from doing this kind of work.
All living creatures are in relation to each other. We have an obligation to care for one another. Just because something's not human or isn't going to benefit you in the ways that capitalism has taught us, doesn't mean that it's not worthy of caring for.
I think with trees, you can quantify the financial benefit of an urban canopy and say it sequesters so many tons of carbon, or it saves this much in energy costs every year because it lowers the temperatures in the summer. You can have a robust financial and economic argument for why it's important to take care of street trees. But then there's also other value of trees that goes beyond the financial or environmental aspect of it.
There are self focused ways that you can benefit from taking care of trees, but we forget that the trees are also taking care of us. They clean the air, they provide shade and shelter. They're literally lowering the temperature, which is obviously just going to become more important as the years go by.
What are some simple ways that New Yorkers can take care of their local tree?
Watering your tree! I had never understood this before. I just assumed, oh, a tree just grows, but just like any other plant, it does need water. Water your tree!
Clearing the tree bed of any trash is important as well. You can also aerate the soil to give the roots space to breathe.” (Check out this TikTok video of how to care for your local street tree in 30 minutes or less. Watch it and then put your phone down again.)
You can report issues with your trees through 311. For example, if there's a dead branch that's of course a safety issue, but it's also just a health issue for the tree to have this dead branch. It’s a wound. Through 311, you can report unsafe or unhealthy conditions of a street tree and the city will take care of it.
The Groove
Adding signage for dog owners can be helpful. People simply don’t realize that dog urine is super corrosive. If the trunk gets a lot of damage, eventually the base of the tree becomes really unhealthy since the urine has eaten away at the foundation of the tree. It doesn't stop dogs from peeing on trees, but even having one sign really helps people be aware of the issue.
Planting trees is not the only important thing we can do, it's also like making sure that the trees we have are still alive.
If you could change one thing about the city's approach to trees, what would it be?
Just changing people's visibility of trees, almost just being able to see them, not just as part of the background. Having a respect of “oh, this is a living being! This is a growing thing! It’s probably not good for my animal to poop here. Or I probably shouldn't throw trash at the roots of this plant.” Recognizing trees as not part of the background. Like if it was a beautiful rose bush in that space, I don't think it would be as disregarded as a sidewalk tree is.
‣ Become a super steward and take care of neighborhood trees
‣ Participate in the annual trees count
‣ Attend a virtual workshop on Sept. 25 and a hands-on workshop on Sept. 27
‣ Hit up any of the City of Forest Day events on Oct. 4.
Why should people 'get off the internet' in this way?
Attending any kind of workshops like this is just like your basic volunteering opportunity, right? You're showing up on a Saturday morning, you're meeting random people. You're meeting people of different ages. You're maybe in a borough or a location that you're not usually in. It's just getting you out of your head and out of your normal day-to-day routine. And that's when you have those weird conversations and those funny stories or someone's kid shows up or you meet a new person or learn a new thing, so much can happen!
With tree stewardship in general, it’s very visible, which is a good thing. It builds community and spreads the practice. If you're outside taking care of a tree, people are going to look at you. People are gonna ask you questions. You get to know people. We're very divorced from our neighbors these days. If you're just out in public spending time in the same spot, taking care of a tree, maybe you're weeding, maybe you're watering, maybe you’re building community.
That is a way of just existing in public that we don't do so often anymore, and I think it just provides opportunity for more interaction. Which, at the end of the day, I guess I'll speak for myself, but I'm always craving that, especially in this day and age when everything is horrible all the time.
So outside, touch grass, water your tree, meet people, and be kind to your neighbors: humans, trees and everything in between.
City of Forest Day is Oct. 4. Find out how to get involved here.
🗞️ Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for free! 🗞️
Comments ()