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BY SCOTT STIFFLER | April showers bring May flowers–but what about the trees? Are they getting enough water and essential nutrients? And if not, who should we call, and what can be done?  Staff from the Lower East Side Ecology Center got to the root of such matters on the morning of April 19, at a Street Tree Care Workshop that began in Clement Clarke Moore Park (10th Ave. & W. 22d St.). Co-Presented by NYC Council Member Erik Bottcher, the event’s participants included members of the Chelsea Garden Club and Clement Clarke Moore-Seal Park Garden Club.

Serving as a lesson in best practices to help urban trees thrive–followed by a hands-on opportunity to apply that knowledge–the 25+ participants, recalled Park Garden Club president Allen Oster, “broke up into small teams working on tree beds along 10th Avenue, circling the block along West 21st Street to 9th Avenue, and then to West 22nd Street. A good time was had by all, along with a sense of accomplishment.”

NYC Council Member Erik Bottcher, who co-presented the Workshop, noted in a constituent email that the benefits of street trees don’t stop at beautification. “They clean our air, cool our streets, reduce flooding, and support native wildlife,” said the Council Member. adding, “Every new tree is an investment in public health, environmental justice, and quality of life.”

And with Bottcher’s Office having recently passed the half-way point of his goal to plant 1,000 new trees throughout District 3, the need to treat street trees in distress is poised to grow in the coming years.

To that end, Chelsea Community News spoke with Madison Lopez-Molina. She’s the LES Ecology Center Street Tree Care Coordinator who taught April 19’s Workshop.

There are four steps you should know, noted Lopez-Molina. “The first step is to remove any litter or dog waste from the surrounding area. The second step is to remove any weeds from the tree pit.” As for fallen leaves, they should be left where they are. Decomposition will eventually achieve the clean-up task and provide the additional benefit of functioning as mulch. Additionally,  notes Lopez-Molina, leaves “also support wildlife, and insects can [unseen] be in a leaf. So we want to view trees as a whole ecosystem that should be kept intact.”

The third step to promote street tree health is to loosen the soil. To do the job effectively, you’ll want to use a hand cultivator–the tool that “looks like a mini-rake,” says Lopez-Molina. “What we’re doing is decompacting the soil, which allows for water and oxygen to reach the roots.” The final step is to apply a layer or compost or mulch, which is “a crucial part in improving street tree health, because it adds nutrients to the soil.”

In addition to those four steps, which are preventative in nature, Lopez-Molina says we should be on the lookout for root suckers. These signs of distress or drought are commonly found at the base of a tree’s trunk.  “Root suckers need to be pruned,” notes Lopez-Molina, “and you need a permit to prune. Trees New York, a nonprofit, has a Citizen Pruner course you can take.” If you see evidence of broken branches, “Call 311. They will file a report that gets the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation [to take care of it.”]

Coming up at Clement Clarke Moore Park is its participation in May 17’s It’s My Park Day. “We’ll meet at 9:30am,” says the Garden Club’s Allen Oster, “and hopefully have a bunch of plantings [from NYC Parks & Rec. and Partnership for Parks], for the tree beds surrounding the Park and inside of it as well.” Inspired to learn more–and do more? The Clement Clarke Moore-Seal Park Garden Club continues to look for volunteers to care for plantings inside the Park and  the surrounding trees. To volunteer,  contact Allen via email, at  aoster@earthlink.net.

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