Kissena Corridor Park

10,000 Trees Closer to a Million

It’s My Park! Day Volunteers Plant Trees in Parks Citywide to Support Million Trees NYC

Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe, City Parks Foundation (CPF) Executive Director David Rivel, Partnerships for Parks Director Jason Schwartz, New York Restoration Project Executive Director Drew Becher, Assembly Member Ellen Young and Council Member John C. Liu today joined more than 350 volunteers at Kissena Corridor Park in Flushing, Queens to help plant 3,000 trees for It’s My Park! Day. This year, the semi-annual event brought together more than 6,000 volunteers to care for and celebrate NYC Parks and to plant 10,000 trees across the five boroughs—the most ever planted in parks in a single day—to support Mayor Bloomberg’s Million Trees NYC initiative. In addition to the primary reforestation site in each borough, volunteers planted additional trees, performed tree maintenance, cleaned, raked, mulched, painted and planted bulbs at nearly 200 parks citywide.

“Thanks to the hard work of It’s My Park! Day volunteers across the city, in just one day we are 10,000 trees closer to our goal of one million—an ambitious contribution to Mayor Bloomberg’s Million Trees NYC initiative,” said Commissioner Benepe. “It is with the help of everyday New Yorkers like our volunteers that we will be able to reach the Mayor’s goal and reap the many benefits that come from planting trees. We encourage everyone to keep up the pace and plant a tree, request a tree, join a volunteer planting group, educate yourself and others about trees, and become a tree advocate.”

“Nothing shows the power of New Yorkers to make the city cleaner, greener, and healthier than It’s My Park! Day,” said CPF Executive Director David Rivel. “Today, more than 6,000 volunteers will not only plant flower bulbs, rake leaves and paint park benches in almost 200 locations citywide, they’ll also help to plant 10,000 trees across all five boroughs. Whether you care about your neighborhood, your environment, or your health, It’s My Park! Day and other volunteer opportunities in city parks are a great way to make a difference.”

Parks’ Natural Resources Group, Parks’ gardeners and the Urban Park Rangers guided more than 350 volunteers from Holly Civic Association, Queensborough Hill Civic Association, New York Restoration Project, Council Member Liu’s Youth Action Committee, Kissena Corridor West Conservancy, Wild Metro, John Bowne High School, IS 237, East West School of International Studies, Wally Realty, Boy Scouts of America, Kissena Park Civic Association, Holy Family Confirmation, Girl Scouts Council of New York/Future of Life—who donated 50 green ash trees, West Flushing Civic Association, Waldheim Civic Association, Cornell University 4H Team Leadership Program, American Chinese Women’s Association, President of Flushing Development Center, Flushing Chinese Business Association and Chinese Christian Herald Crusades to properly plant 3,000 two-foot red and white oak, sassafras and tulip poplar trees in an effort to expand the forest of Kissena Corridor Park. At the end of the day, they formed a bucket brigade to water the newly-planted trees and the Natural Resources Group spread an “oat mix” containing wild flower seeds for ground cover.

Kissena Corridor Park, a vision of Robert Moses, consists of three separate corridors that link together much of the parkland in eastern Queens, forming a 4.5 mile “emerald necklace” from Flushing Meadows Corona Park in the west to Cunningham Park in the east. Today, portions of Kissena Corridor Park are left as natural areas while others have been developed as ballfields or playgrounds. Historically the planting site was used as a dumping ground for construction rubble but the new soil is full of rock, sand, silt and cobble and has low fertility, which native plants thrive in. Thanks to Parks’ longstanding relationship with the nearby New York Hospital Queens, approximately 10,500 cubic yards of glacial till that was discovered during the construction of their new parking garage was moved to Kissena Corridor Park where it provides perfect conditions for native plants and trees. The hospital also donated supplies to It’s My Park! Day.

It’s My Park! Day, a volunteer initiative of Partnerships for Parks, a joint program of Parks and CPF, will complete Parks’ fall goal of reforesting parks with 10,000 trees—approximately 3,000 in Queens’ Kissena Corridor Park, 2,000 in Ferry Point Park in the Bronx, 2,000 in Four Sparrows Marsh in Brooklyn, 2,000 in the Staten Island Greenbelt and 1,000 on Randall’s Island in Manhattan. An additional 10,000 trees are being planted this fall along the city’s streets. All New Yorkers will share in the many benefits that come from planting trees—more beautiful neighborhoods and parks; cleaner air and water; higher property values; energy savings; cooler summer streets, yards, and public open spaces; and a healthier, more environmentally sustainable City.

Through a mix of public and private plantings, Million Trees NYC, an important initiative of PlaNYC, will expand New York City’s urban forest by 20%. Over the next ten years, Parks will receive nearly $400 million to plant 600,000 public trees by reforesting 2,000 acres of existing parkland and lining New York City streets with trees. The City’s partners, including non-profit and community organizations, businesses, developers and everyday New Yorkers will plant the remaining 400,000 trees. For more information about getting involved with the Million Tree NYC initiative, visit www.milliontreesnyc.org or call 311.

City Parks Foundation is the only independent, non-profit organization to offer park programs throughout the five boroughs of New York City. By presenting a broad range of free arts, sports and educational programs to more than 600,000 people in 700 parks citywide, and by helping citizens support their local parks, CPF contributes to the revitalization of neighborhoods throughout New York City.

Partnerships for Parks, a joint program of Parks & Recreation and City Parks Foundation, works to form, strengthen, and support neighborhood park groups; to help foster connections among them so that they can share resources and become stronger collectively; and to promote parks in general to encourage local efforts to restore and preserve them. Partnerships for Parks received the prestigious “Innovations in American Government” award in 2000.

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