#urban-forestry

#urban-forestry

When it rains, New York City's natural areas-made up of forests, wetlands, and grasslands-play a crucial role in keeping sewers from overflowing by soaking up 17 percent of the city's stormwater, a new report by the Natural Areas Conservancy (NAC) finds. The report reveals that this natural landscape, which makes up a third of the Big Apple's more than 30,000 acres of parkland, soaks up twice the amount of storm water on a per unit basis when compared to other forms of green infrastructure like rain gardens.

On a recent morning, as the late August sun began to beat down, a few dozen New Yorkers stood in the shade of one of the nearly 500 trees adorning Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park, worrying a bit about hurting its feelings. We had already identified the species bald cypress thanks to its feathered leaves and strong pyramidal shape, measured its trunk's circumference (17in; 43cm), and noted that its roots appeared normal, its leaves were healthy and its branches had suffered some damage from improper pruning.

The new online map devised by Haringey Council shows the number of trees already planted over the last year, aiming for every neighbourhood to achieve 30% tree cover.

A fragile sapling now taking root in Green-Wood Cemetery's Chestnut Path is part of an ambitious new effort to bring back a tree that once dominated northeastern forests.

"It feels like the tree is still the fall guy in this situation and it is just morally, ethically, environmentally wrong."

If you go there, you'll see barren blocks of land, about areas where new trees were placed.