Tree signs, which were in both English and Spanish, included historical background, scientific names, and ecological benefits. (Credit: Kristin Merrilees)
The ginkgo has existed for 170 million years; there are more than 100,000 London planetrees in New York City; the tree of heaven is the preferred tree of the dreaded spotted lanternfly. These are just a few of the facts participants learned on Oct. 4 in the 34th Avenue tree walk that extended 1.3 miles across Queens.
The tree walk, a self-guided tour on 34th Avenue, was part of City of Forest Day, which included more than 120 events across the city’s five boroughs. This was the fourth annual City of Forest Day, hosted by Parks and Open Spaces NYC, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and Forest for All NYC, a coalition of more than 200 organizations that aims to protect the city’s urban forest. In Jackson Heights, the walk emphasized trees’ benefits to the local ecosystem, especially in a neighborhood with limited park space.
“I’m hoping that people stop to notice their neighborhood trees in new ways, not as amorphous green and brown blobs but as living, breathing things with stories to tell,” said Sarah Balistreri.
Balistreri, an educator and environmentalist, created the tree walk last year while leading the 2024 City of Forest Day steering committee at Trees New York, a nonprofit tree stewardship and advocacy organization that was a founding member of the Forest for All coalition. This year, while Balistreri has shifted to a new role working as an Urban Forest Program Manager at the City Parks Foundation’s Partnerships for Parks program, she worked with former colleagues at Trees New York to update the walk and reprint the signs.
Thirty-fourth Avenue is one of New York City’s “Open Streets,” a program first created by the Department of Transportation in May 2020 to enable people to be outside safely during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic by limiting vehicle traffic on designated streets. The 34th Avenue open street consists of 26 blocks stretching from 69th Street to Junction Avenue and crossing through the neighborhoods of Woodside, Jackson Heights, and North Corona.
The open street gives residents a place “to recreate, to build social cohesion, to make connections, to spend time outdoors and reconnect with the urban environment,” said Nelson Villarrubia, executive director of Trees New York.
In planning the walk, Balistreri chose to foreground one tree per block. “I wanted to highlight a variety of tree species, interesting or unusual features, and cultural connections,” she said.
The signs, in both English and Spanish, included information on the trees’ history, their scientific names, whether they produce fruit or flowers, their prevalence in New York City, as well as quantifiable annual ecological benefits including stormwater intercepted, energy conserved, and air pollutants removed. An accompanying online map also shows pins for each of the 27 stops along the walk including the willow oak, scarlet oak, silver linden, green ash, and horse chestnut.
To locate the trees, participants had to traverse both sides of the street plus the median. Many of the signs were easily spotted, while others required crouching down, looking up, or circling around a tree. Arrows drawn in sidewalk chalk helped point out a few trees that were more hidden.
One tree on the walk, a silver maple, was leaning, which its sign explains was likely a result of partial uprooting from a storm years ago. Another, a Siberian crabapple, had bright green leaves and sprawling branches. Its sign, tied to a surrounding fence, pointed out that trees on private property are often selected for “ornamental qualities” and are thus “not as tough as street trees.”
The tree walk drew interest from couples, families, and kids alike, Jim Burke, a co-founder of the 34th Avenue Open Streets Coalition, said.
He added that trees “are one of the most important things that enable us to enjoy our open street,” particularly in the summer, as they offer shade. As Jackson Heights has as little as two square feet of park space per resident, according to a 2020 analysis from the NYC Independent Budget Office, 34th Avenue is especially significant in the community.
Burke also noted that the coalition is pushing elected officials for more trees on the avenue in order for it to “be a sponge” to help reduce the impacts of flooding on the area, including surrounding neighborhoods like East Elmhurst, which “got really slammed during a couple of the last storms.” In recent years, repeated flooding has underscored the need for improved flood mitigation efforts. According to a Sept. 2024 NYC Emergency Management report, East Elmhurst and Jackson Heights were two neighborhoods with the highest concentration of buildings impacted by Hurricane Ida. Also that month, Mayor Eric Adams detailed in a press release updates on flood mitigation plans undertaken by his administration — including adding more green spaces in Queens to absorb water from storms — given the increased prevalence of extreme weather due to climate change.
Since the first City of Forest Day four years ago as an offshoot of City of Water Day, the event has continued to grow. Other events this year included a dance celebration in Saratoga Park in Brooklyn, story-time and craft events at Queens Public Library locations, and an “after-party” with music and trivia.
“We want to diversify the events so that there are several ways to get involved and learn, but the overall [goal] is to build community buy-in and support for maintaining and expanding our urban forest,” Villarrubia said, adding that “it extends well beyond the day.”
In addition to the self-guided tree walk in Jackson Heights, Trees New York also hosted a guided tour of The Evergreens Cemetery in Brooklyn, which drew more than 30 participants, he said.
Burke hopes that the tree walk continues as a tradition in Jackson Heights, adding that educating people on the different trees and their needs will enable more volunteers to continue to take care of them.
For Balistreri, the walk and other programming can be an antidote to “plant blindness,” the lack of awareness about plants and the environment people in New York and other urban areas can often have, she said.
“If the tree walk helped one person feel a connection to a tree they never noticed before, that would be a win,” Balistreri said.
About the author(s)
Kristin Merrilees is an M.S. student at Columbia Journalism School covering arts and culture in New York City.