Trees New York’s “learning-while-doing” approach provides our volunteers with the awareness, knowledge and skills needed to ensure that our street trees survive and thrive.
Trees New York’s Tree Stewardship Training is designed to train and mobilize New Yorkers so that they can play an active role in supporting the health of our urban forest. Trees New York’s Environmental Educators teach lessons on the value of a healthy urban forest and the importance of volunteer efforts. Following each lesson, volunteers steward street trees. Trees New York’s Environmental Educators work alongside volunteers to guide their stewardship efforts and answer questions.
Trees New York works with both youth and adult volunteers and works throughout the five boroughs of New York City. Our target neighborhoods for 2024 include Greenpoint, Bushwick, Corona, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, East Harlem, and The Bronx.
Volunteer stewardship activities include:
Tree bed clean up and soil cultivation – In addition to being unsightly, compacted soil and litter block the movement of oxygen, water and nutrients to tree roots. Volunteers remove litter and weeds from tree beds and loosen up the surface soil with hand cultivators
Watering Trees – New York City street trees live in permanent drought conditions. All trees, especially newly planted trees, need thorough and deep watering during the spring and summer. Volunteers water trees using buckets and hoses.
Mulching – Mulch conserves water, moderates soil temperatures, improves soil structure and mitigates damage from dogs, people, de-icing salts and cleaning agents. Volunteers mulch trees with mulch or woodchips.
Tree Bed Gardening – Flowers beautify the streetscape, add enriching organic matter to the soil and help deter people from walking on tree beds. In the spring, volunteers plant annual flowers such as impatiens, coleus and begonias and in the fall, we plant bulbs such as muscari, crocus and daffodil.
Watch Sam’s Tree Care Tips Video! Are your interested in organizing a tree stewardship workshop in your neighborhood? Trees New York can help. Please contact Sam Bishop, Director of Education and Arborist, at sam@treesny.org.
Before: In addition to being unsightly, compacted soil and litter block the movement of oxygen, water and nutrients to tree roots.
