Brooklyn Heights tree stewards ‘Spring into Service’
"Trees take care of us, so we should take care of them."
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — If you notice the street trees in the north end of Brooklyn Heights looking especially lush and healthy this spring, you have the local tree stewards to thank.
Dozens of volunteers gathered early on Sunday, May 7, to take care of the trees in a Spring into Service event coordinated by the Brooklyn Heights Association (BHA), Councilmember Lincoln Restler’s Office and the nonprofit Big Reuse.
Gowanus-based Big Reuse Event Coordinator Gil Lopez provided compost and wheelbarrows, and explained the mission: to clean trash out of tree beds, weed, cultivate the soil with the compost and sweep around tree pits.
“We’re going to be taking care of our street trees because they take such good care of us,” Lopez told the volunteers. “We’re going to be removing all the trash and then the weeds; then we’re going to aerate the soil with hand cultivators and trowels so the air can get through and the water can get down to the roots. Then we’re going to add an inch or two of compost — you don’t want it touching the trunk. And that’s it!”