The NYS Urban Forestry Council is pleased to announce grants for communities to plant large specimen trees or a grove of trees in a prominent location within the community. Full Details, Application, and Contact Info
Communities in New York State that have been a Tree City USA for at least the past five years can apply for up to $1,000. Funding has been provided by the New York State Urban Forestry Council.
Grant Goals
The intent of this grant is to encourage municipalities to sustain their community forestry program and maintain their status as a Tree City USA Community through a celebratory tree planting.
Town of Glenville staff Matt and Joe plant trees as part of the community’s extended 2020 Arbor Day celebration, funded in part by a NYSUFC Quick Start grant. The Town also recently achieved Tree City USA status. Congrats to Glenville!
This account was provided by the Town of Glenville.
The Town of Glenville in Schenectady County envisioned a one-day Arbor Day event to plant trees and clean the parks. That was pre-pandemic. Post-pandemic the Town found the perfect opportunity to tout our parks and tree planting online.
Going online helped keep residents focused on positive actions. Over the course of the past few months we encouraged the public to plant trees, explore nature (alone), and celebrate Arbor Day.
Iowa-based Trees Forever has done some socially-distanced planting events this spring, and in this webinar they share what has worked for them, what to consider, and ways to make it work. They walk through some great tips as well as the online-survey they’re using to manage volunteers signing up for shifts to plant. These guidelines are included in the Trees Forever webinar and will be a great resource for ReLeaf Committee members and partners hoping to plan some fall planting events. —Christina McLaughlin, NYSDEC Urban & Community Partnership Coordinator
DEC’s Colonel William F. Fox Memorial Saratoga Tree Nursery’s annual seedling sale is happening now! Dozens of tree and shrub species are available for purchase for conservation plantings across New York State. You can browse this year’s selection on our website, and we recommend placing your order by phone for the most up-to-date species availability information. The sale runs until May 15th, and seedlings are shipped mid-April through May.
Buffer in a Bag – Deadline April 10 (or While Supplies Last)
Don’t forget – if you’re a landowner with at least 50 feet of streamside property in New York State, you may be eligible for 25 free tree and shrub seedlings through DEC’s Buffer in a Bag initiative! Buffer in a Bag seedlings are intended to create riparian buffers that help prevent erosion, improve water quality, and create wildlife habitat along water.
As part of the Village of Liverpool’s 2019 Arbor Day celebration, elementary students wrote and performed skits about trees.
Thank you to the Village of Liverpool and Deputy Mayor Christina Fadden (Fitch) for forwarding this terrific account and photos of their 2019 celebration, funded by a NYSUFC grant. Fadden says, “The grant funds were a great encouragement, and we also now stand on the cusp of finally being designated a Tree City USA. Thank you to the NYS Urban Forestry Council for your support of our efforts and program.”
Location of the Village of Liverpool, in Onondaga County, greater Syracuse.
On Friday May 3rd, 2019, the Village of Liverpool celebrated its 2nd Annual Arbor Day Celebration at Liverpool Elementary School. At 9:00 a.m., an assembly of approximately 280 students, teachers and staff gathered in the school cafeteria. Village of Liverpool Tree Advisory Committee members Lisa Ballantyne, Yvette Hewitt, Diane Recor and Adam Woodburn joined Mayor of the Village of Liverpool Gary White, DEC Senior Forester Matthew Swayze, and Officer Sean Pierce in attendance.
In his capacity as Arborist for the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, James Kaechele demonstrated how to properly plant a limón sutil tree (Citrus aurantifolia) to a community in the Peruvian Amazon.
All Photos Courtesy James Kaechele & Fruit Tree Planting Foundation
What skills does an urban forester use when planting trees on disturbed land along an Amazon River tributary? “All of them,” says New York Tree Trust Director and Council Executive Committee Member James Kaechele. In early December, 2019, Kaechele, also a consulting arborist for the Pittsburgh-based international charity Fruit Tree Planting Foundation (FTPF), went with a team of staff and volunteers to the Loreta Region of Peru to plant 6,000 fruit trees in five Amazon River communities.
“As urban foresters, our job is equal parts plants and people,” Kaechele says. “We’re uniquely positioned to coordinate both the arboricultural and human aspects of a project like this. The land-use questions are the same; the site assessment process is the same; tree planting techniques are the same; you have to address any concerns people have—for example, the worry that some have about whether a tree will fall on their house—it’s the same skills that I use in the work I do with street trees and residents in NYC.” Furthermore, the land along the Amazon River is often severely degraded and in need of restoration, just like in the tree beds, parks, and natural areas of NYC—just degraded for different reasons.
The planting sites used in Buffalo’s i-Tree Planting Analysis project as part of City Forester Ross Hassinger’s participation in the first-ever i-Tree Online Academy.
As part of the first i-Tree Online Academy, participants were asked to complete a comprehensive final capstone project that demonstrated their ability to utilize the i-Tree tools to analyze trees in their community or to engage community residents in examining the greenspace in their city or town. Projects were developed by each student and they were responsible to carry out all aspects of the design, planning, and implementation of each program.
Buffalo City Forester Ross Hassinger’s project involved the City’s 2018 street tree planting. In the fall season (Oct 15-Dec 31) of 2018, the city of Buffalo put out bids for a local licensed landscape company to plant 56 street trees in the City in various locations as shown in the map above. This is Ross’s report created after conducting his i-Tree Online Academy capstone project.
Like so many regions in New York, nearly every corner of Missouri has been hit hard with the invasive spread of Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana spp.). Callery pears are self-sterile, but it turns out they readily cross-pollinate with other cultivars. Also, the rootstock upon which a Bradford pear is grafted will sometimes sprout, eventually yielding flowers and viable pollen.
Fortunately, Missourians are often out in front with innovative approaches to urban forestry and invasive plant control. Here’s how they reduced the number of Callery pears and increased the use of native, non-invasive trees. Special thanks to Tina Casagrand of the Missouri Invasive Plant Task Force (MoIP) for her help with this post.
