by Nichole Henderson-Roy, Senior Stewardship Manager, Forestry, Horticulture & Natural Resources, NYC Parks
On August 29th and 30th, 2017, the NYC Parks Stewardship program welcomed the first-year class of the NYU College of Arts and Sciences to New York in a truly grand style. Over two days, 1,435 students and 60 staff members cared for 1,570 trees!
With a small bit of instruction from Parks staff, these students removed litter and weeds, cultivated the soil, and added 200 cubic yards of mulch to young street trees in the neighborhood of East New York.
East New York was one of the six Trees for Public Health neighborhoods, areas that had a lower tree stock but also correlated with children who had higher asthma rates and with limited income households. As an attempt to more equitably distribute resources, East New York was one of six neighborhoods identified for additional street tree planting.
Years later, NYU students came together as part of this massive NYC Parks Stewardship event to tend the beds of those young street trees planted in the past decade. ♦