City of Forest Day 2026!

TREES NEW YORK AND FOREST FOR ALL NYC HOSTED THE FIFTH CITY OF FOREST DAY ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2026!

Trees New York, in conjunction with its coalition partners at Forest for All NYC, once again hosted the 5th annual City of Forest Day. Since 2022, City of Forest Day has brought New Yorkers city-wide several different ways to connect with our unique urban forest through a series of activities designed to appeal to all ages.

This year’s hosts put together a new record: over 150 events which took place all day into the evening across all five boroughs! Among them were guided and self-guided tree tours, tree walks, birding, hiking, tree plantings, stewardship and pruning, park restoration and cleanup, and family-friendly arts and crafts for children.

One of the largest goals the organizers of City of Forest Day aim to achieve is to bring awareness to the importance of a thriving urban forest, and to further understand the role everyday New Yorkers play in their individual lives towards supporting the “lungs” of our great city. Trees not only beautify the city streetscape but also support its residents with critical infrastructure!

Trees New York was proud to host a series of events which included tree stewardship and bulb planting events with several block associations on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and Upper West Side. In Brooklyn, we were excited to return to The Evergreens Cemetery, a Level II Arboretum, located in Brooklyn, where we held a guided tree walk to showcase the majestic trees located throughout the grounds.

We also worked alongside Brooklyn Outdoor Service Guides, a local scout organization, to steward trees surrounding Prospect with a large group of volunteers, including many young scouts and future environmental leaders of our urban forest! Trees New York also partnered with the Bed-Stuy Block Association to steward trees along Tompkins Avenue. Over the summer, Trees New York and Citizen Pruners pruned the trees, in honor of a new mural being painted on the block. To commemorate City of Forest Day, we revisited and stewarded the same trees. Afterwards, we created hand-drawn signs for the trees to bring awareness to their importance for residents in the neighborhood.

Over in Forest Park, Queens, we put together an unguided tree walk for participants to connect with our city’s urban forest at their leisure, while strolling throughout the park and scanning QR codes for trees along the way. Visitors were able to learn fun facts about the individual trees and how to identify them!

For a guided tree tour, we invited members of the community to join us in Crotona Park in the Bronx, where one of our Arborists took the group through the park to catcha glimpse of the ethnobotanical, historical, and cultural significance of a group of mature trees, some of which are known and designated as New York City’s “Great Trees”, followed by a discussion of the specific attributes of and challenges facing them.

In addition, we are happy to announce that we were thrilled to support so many great organizations for City of Forest Day 2026 and gave away over 50 tree guards, including three to a public school in the Bronx to help them preserve and protect their young Hawthorne trees!

We would like to thank Treebed who provided funding to Trees New York to support City of Forest Day 2026 and our tree stewardship and pruning projects!

Thank you also to the Forest for All NYC coalition partners, event hosts, Citizen Pruners and volunteers, and all the wonderful New Yorkers who came out in a big show of solidarity to celebrate this year’s City of Forest Day and make it another great success!