Seward Park

The Daily Plant : Thursday, April 3, 2008

April Is Million Trees NYC Month!

Photo by Daniel Avila

With planting season upon us and Earth Day and Arbor Day not far away, Mayor Bloomberg has proclaimed April as MillionTreesNYC month.

The month-long celebration of tree plantings began on Tuesday at Seward Park. Commissioner Benepe, New York Restoration Project Executive Director Drew Becher, and Head of Corporate Communications of BNP Paribas North America Michele Sicard joined third grade students from P.S. 134 as they planted a crabapple tree, one of the million trees to be planted around the city by the year 2017.

During the month of April, New Yorker’s will have ample opportunities to learn all about the MillionTreesNYC initiative, which will expand New York City’s urban forest by 20 percent. Some featured programs will include Earth Day and Arbor Day celebrations, tree education seminars, tree pruning instructional courses, and Urban Park Ranger tree identification hikes throughout the city.

In April, New Yorkers can also take advantage of large-scale volunteer tree planting events, including the planting of 20,000 trees in parks citywide on Saturday, April 12 through New York Cares’ Hands on New York Day and Jet Blue and NYRP’s One Thing That’s Green Day.

In addition, the MillionTreesNYC website has launched an interactive feature webpage called “My Tree” through which New Yorkers can join an online tree stewardship community by sharing personal anecdotes and photos of their favorite New York City trees. To access the “My Tree” webpage and a full calendar of events on the MillionTreesNYC official website, visit www.milliontreesnyc.org.

MillionTreesNYC partners will begin planting trees throughout the five boroughs in schoolyards, public housing campuses, business districts, front yards and private lands. The planting of these trees not only will bring color and beauty to the city, but also environmental benefits. These benefits include; cleaner air and water, cooler summer streets, public open spaces, and, most importantly, a healthier, more sustainable city.

MillionTreesNYC Month is sponsored by BNP Paribas, a European leader in global banking and financial services with a long-standing commitment to the environment and social responsibility. BNP Paribas is also creating a temporary greenhouse in Union Square as a venue to help encourage all New Yorkers to get involved in local sustainability initiatives and raise funds to support MillionTreesNYC. The Union Square Greenhouse will be present from April 26-29 and will be staffed with BNP Paribas volunteers.

There are many ways to get involved in MillionTreesNYC:

• plant a tree in your yard;
• join a volunteer group planting trees in parks and on public land;
• request that the city plant street trees on your block;
• learn how to water, mulch, and prune trees;
• educate other New Yorkers on the importance of our urban forest; and
• become an advocate for trees.

QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

“No man who ever held the office of president would congratulate a man upon obtaining it.”

John Adams
(1735 – 1826)