Bill Schmidt and Sophia Wohl from Greening Greenpoint talked with us about their upcoming projects & past accomplishments, especially the free Tree Giveaways (next one on November 28) as well as the many volunteer gardening opportunities that Greenpoint residents have access to through their organization! Bill is Greening Greenpoint Community Coordinator and Forester while Sophia Wohl is Greening Greenpoint Stewardship Outreach Coordinator.
What is Greening Greenpoint?
Greening Greenpoint is a four-year project that has planted hundreds of new trees and empowered Greenpoint community to care for the trees in their neighborhood. Greening Greenpoint is a partnership involving City Parks Foundation, Trees NY, Million Trees NYC, and NYC Parks. It launched in 2014, with a $1.95 MM grant from the Greenpoint Environmental Fund (GCEF) and $1.96 MM in matching funds to develop and implement a comprehensive forestry plan for Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Greening Greenpoint received additional awards of $604K and $54K from GCEF in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
What is your Tree Giveaway Program?
Seasonal tree giveaways are built into the outline of the Greening Greenpoint project. We’ve done one every fall and spring for the past four years. These trees can only be planted in private properties so we can give away trees that otherwise would not be allowed on public grounds like fruiting trees. Pawpaws and persimmons have been strong favorites in the past.
In fact, we have a Tree Giveaway coming up next Thursday, November 28th. Sign up to get your tree!
What are you most proud of regarding the tree giveaway?
How well it’s been received! On average, we’ve been giving away 90 trees per season. We keep thinking that Greenpoint’s going to run out of backyard space and people willing to plant them, but we give away almost all our trees every season! People are interested, and very good about letting their neighbors and community groups know. These are trees on private property, so the City of New York do not plant them; it is the good citizens of Greenpoint. We have given away over 400 trees that have been planted in backyards. We’ve added many trees that otherwise wouldn’t be there!
What happens to the trees that you don’t give away?
We either hold them over to the next season or give them away to local community gardens because they often have more space. We hope to give away most or all the trees at the upcoming tree giveaway next Wednesday because it’s more difficult to keep them over the winter than over the summer.
What is your free Tree Work Program?
We also work with tree beds in public sidewalks. We’ve planted +600 trees and installed +600 tree guards in sidewalk beds, expanded existing tree beds, removed granite blocks from beds, and planted over 17,000 perennials. You have until December 1st to sign up for free tree work that will happen next spring. Three great options are available: 1) block removal, 2) tree planting, or 3) perennial planting. The only requirement is that the work has to be in the 11222 zip code. You don’t need to live or work there, but we do ask that with the perennials, the home or business owner assist with the planting. Again, sign up is open until December 1st.
What are your other stewardship initiatives?
We’ve engaged over 2100 Greenpoint volunteers over the past four years! If you’re interested in lending a hand, we are going to prune trees in McGolrick Park on December 1st! You need to have taken the citizen pruner test to participate in that. But it’s exciting because we have permission to prune these trees that are usually the responsibility of the city.
We don’t do as many programs during the winter, but we will have indoor events. Please visit our website for updates!
What should people know about owning and planting a tree in New York City?
- If you do volunteer with us, we will give you a tree care kit which has a bucket, tools, and a tote bag!
- When street trees are planted by New York City, the contractor hired is responsible for replanting the tree if it dies (in the first 2 years) and then the responsibility goes to the boroughs, which is primarily pruning and removal.
- Whether a tree is private or public, the most important trees to steward are between 2 and 10 years of age. After 10 years, the trees are much more likely to live another 20 to 40 years. But the 8-year gap is pretty crucial.
- However, whatever tree you choose to steward is better than not stewarding a tree.
- If anything, water the tree! Drought kills trees more than anything else. We recommend 20 gallons a week, slow release (through a hose, garbage cans with holes in the bottom, or perforated irrigation bags that we can provide). During July and August, 40 gallons a week is better. Ideally it should be done at dawn or dusk.
- The next thing that can be done is mulching. We provide mulch. Mulch keeps out weeds, which is crucial, and keeps the moisture in the soil from evaporating.
- The other thing that is helpful for tree care is de-compaction. A cultivator breaks up the soil, which allows water and air to help the tree thrive. That can be done with a rake.
What are some of the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Sophia – Getting the word out about our program. We have a core group of volunteers who are on our committee or affiliated with Eco-Schools, another GCEF project Our tree giveaway and perennial giveaway events also attract people, who sign up for our mailing list and hopefully, will become community tree stewards. That’s why we’re thrilled about Go Green BK Hub, how easy it is to submit our events to your online calendar and how you guys help us get the word out to more folks!
Bill – Logistical challenges with getting trees planted and scheduling the work to be done. Sometimes we get more demand than we can fill. One of the more challenging things for us now is to help people receive tree guards. The metaphor we use is “handing over the keys” to the neighborhood, so our focus is finding resources and organizations that can help people to continue the work after June 2019, when our grant is finished. Greenpoint Tree Corps is a small group of tree stewards that has been a big help and we’re trying to do whatever we can to support and connect them with other resources.
What inspires you to do this?
Bill – I’ve been with NYC Parks Department for about 15 years. I graduated with a degree in sustainable development and became an urban park ranger. As a park ranger, you need to know about everything in the park. Most rangers have 1 or 2 subjects that they find particularly interesting, and I love trees. So I started leading tree tours. When the Million Trees initiative was announced in 2006 by Mayor Bloomberg (the goal was to plant 1 Million trees in NYC, which we achieved in 2015), I applied for that and was accepted! It’s been a real pleasure working with people and trees. The relationship that people have with trees is interesting. My job is tree planting and community outreach, which combines my two interests into one.
Sophia – I studied environmental science in college. I grew up in NYC and have always been pretty interested in Urban Ecology: how to bring nature into cities to benefit people in urban ecosystems. Getting a chance to work for the NYC Parks Department on this program has been very exciting. I have very much enjoyed working with Greenpoint community members on maintaining and improving the urban forest in Greenpoint.
So, hey Greenpoint! Don’t let these amazing opportunities pass by: