Volunteers Plant Trees to Expand Urban Forest and Aid September 16th Storm Recovery

On Saturday, New Yorkers embraced the first opportunity to plant trees in public parks following the September 16th tornados, which destroyed thousands of trees in our urban forest. First Deputy Parks Commissioner Liam Kavanagh joined Irene Farrow, International Programs Manager, Earth Day Network; Amy Freitag, Executive Director of the New York Restoration Project; Frances Resheske, Senior VP of Public Affairs for Con Edison; and over 230 volunteers to kick off Mayor Bloomberg's MillionTreesNYC Fall 2010 Planting Day in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. Throughout the day, approximately 1,500 volunteers from all five boroughs planted 20,000 trees in various parks and natural areas, expanding the urban forest within weeks of the recent storm which ravaged parts of the city. The tree plantings took place in the boroughs hard hit by the storm - Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island - and beautified the Bronx as well. Mulch at the planting sites was composed of reused woodchips from trees felled due to the storm. The tree plantings were complemented by the hard work of an additional force of 4,000 community volunteers, organized by Partnerships for Parks, who beautified parks and public spaces on Saturday as part of It's My Park Day.

"We are deeply grateful to the volunteers and sponsors who donated time, energy and funding to make MillionTreesNYC Fall 2010 Planting Day a success," said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe. "The 20,000 trees planted today are crucial for our city's overall urban forest, as five weeks ago two tornados and macroburst destroyed thousands of trees in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. The city's 20,000 newly-planted trees will work hard for New Yorkers by cleaning the air we breathe, cooling summer air temperatures, providing shade and beautifying our neighborhoods."

MillionTreesNYC Fall 2010 Planting Day is the largest tree planting day of the fall planting season, measured by number of trees. The plantings are part of MillionTreesNYC, a citywide initiative to plant and care for one million trees by 2017. The goal of MillionTreesNYC is to increase the city's overall tree canopy which cools and cleans the air, providing beauty and shade for New Yorkers in parks, natural areas and on streets.

Approximately 1,500 volunteers planted 20,000 trees in parks and natural areas, including:

Bronx
· Ferry Point Park - 1,700 were trees planted by over 100 volunteers. Organizations represented included Friends of Ferry Point Park, MillionTreesNYC Training Program and Manhattan Comprehensive.
· Pelham Bay Park - 2,500 trees were planted by over 200 volunteers. Organizations represented included The Sierra Club.
· Van Cortlandt Park - 3,500 trees were planted by 230 volunteers. Organizations represented included Con Edison, NYC Parks Teen Society and Harlem Children's Zone.

Brooklyn
· Floyd Bennett Field - 1,500 trees were planted by over 150 volunteers. Organizations represented included Aviator All Star Cheer Team, Boy Scouts, Earth Day NY, National Honor Society and Alpha Phi Delta.
· Marine Park - 2,000 trees were planted by 150 volunteers. Organizations represented included New York University, Visiting Nurse Service of New York, Washington Irving HS Alumni, BuildOn and KPMG.

Queens
· Powell's Cove Park - 850 trees were planted by over 150 volunteers. Organizations represented included Coastal Preservation Network, Tzu Chi Foundation, Mount Moriah AME Church located in Cambria Heights, St. John's Preparatory School located in Astoria and P.S. 475/Richmond Hill High School.

Staten Island
· Clove Lakes Park - 2,500 trees were planted by over 150 volunteers. Organizations represented included Girls Scouts, AHRC New York City, Right Now Technologies and St. Teresa Soccer.
· Conference House Park - 1,000 trees were planted by 70 volunteers. Organizations represented included Girl Scouts, NYC Parks and Juniors on a Journey.
· Wolfe's Pond Park - 1,500 trees were planted by over 100 volunteers. Organizations represented included Girl Scout Troop #5394 and City Hall.

MillionTreesNYC Fall 2010 Volunteer Planting Day is supported by the Avatar Home Tree Initiative, a partnership between Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Earth Day Network, with food graciously provided by RCano Events and laundry service for the reusable work gloves provided by Green Apple Cleaners. BNP Paribas, The Home Depot Foundation and Toyota are the lead sponsors of the MillionTreesNYC initiative. Generous support has also been provided by the Con Edison e*bill paperless billing program.

Trees planted in Brooklyn's Marine Park and Staten Island's Conference House Park and Clove Lakes Park were organized into research plots to allow scientists to study the ecological effects and benefits of urban trees. In the coming years, researchers will analyze soil nutrients, soil carbon, and plant diversity and abundance in the research plots to determine how urban forests can be managed to maximize benefits such as regulating air temperatures, filtering pollution, trapping rainwater and storing carbon dioxide. This large-scale, multi-institutional research project is led by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation's Natural Resources Group; Columbia University's Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology; The New School's Tishman Environment and Design Center; and Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Study.

MillionTreesNYC Fall 2010 Planting Day coincided with the semiannual It's My Park Day sponsored by Partnerships for Parks, a joint program of the City Parks Foundation and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. Partnerships for Parks supported more than 4,000 volunteers today who planted bulbs, painted fences, cleaned up and celebrated their communities at 110 projects and events around the city. Nearly 140 dedicated community groups contributed project ideas for It's My Park Day to help beautify 100 neighborhood parks in all five boroughs, creating greener, safer and more enjoyable public spaces.

MillionTreesNYC, a cornerstone of Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC vision to establish a healthier, more sustainable New York City, is a public-private partnership between the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation and Bette Midler's New York Restoration Project, through which one million trees will be planted and cared for throughout the five boroughs by 2017. Since MillionTreesNYC was launched in October 2007, nearly 400,000 trees have been planted, including today's tree plantings. New Yorkers are encouraged to donate to MillionTreesNYC to fund replacement trees for those lost in the September 16th storm. For more information, visit www.milliontreesnyc.org or call 311.