Forest for All NYC started in 2021 with a goal to expand New York City’s tree canopy up to 30% by 2035 while maintaining the city’s existing coverage. Forest for All is a coalition that brings together around 150 organizations to meet its goal of planting and sustaining trees in an urban environment to combat the climate crisis and restore the earth’s natural assets.

“Forest for All NYC envisions a healthy, biodiverse, robust, accessible, well-understood, and resilient urban forest that justly and equitably delivers its multiple benefits to all residents of New York City and helps the city adapt to and mitigate climate change,” Forest for All says in its Urban Forest Agenda. “Our diverse and inclusive coalition is committed to working together to advance effective and lasting policies, plans, practices, research and investments. Collectively, these actions will help to protect, maintain, use, monitor, understand, promote and expand the New York City urban forest and ensure that its benefits accrue throughout all stages of the life cycle of NYC’s trees.”

Forest for All organizations recognize the importance of trees in an urban environment for their aesthetic, social and ecological benefits, and the coalition wants residents to get involved in preserving, protecting and expanding the urban forest. 

“Forest for All Coalition is about 150 different organizations across different sectors — the nonprofit and private sector, conservation, environmental justice organizations — who really have a point of view that our urban forest is essential to what it means to survive in a city like New York,” said Prospect Park Alliance President Morgan Monaco. “Our shared agenda is to make sure that we protect and maintain our urban forest so that it can be there for future generations and provide the ecosystem services and benefits that we need today and tomorrow.”

Many city dwellers are familiar with aspects of climate change, but many forget to look to the natural world for resources to combat environmental crises. 

“When people talk about climate change, they’re often talking about emissions from buildings, cars, airplanes, but the urban forest plays a really big role in mitigating the impacts of climate change,” said Monaco. “Those other interventions, like capping emissions, converting to solar, converting to wind, are very important, but sometimes it gets lost on people that the natural environment, not just the built environment, has a really important role to play with mitigating the impacts of climate change.”

Forest for All wants New Yorkers to connect with their urban forest and reach the goal of 30% canopy coverage by 2035. To do this, New Yorkers first need to know the value of trees to the city.

Trees as an asset to the city

Forest for All defines the urban forest as a “social-ecological system composed of all of the trees in New York City and the physical and social infrastructure that support them.” 

The urban forest is necessary to support New York City in the face of the climate crisis and to repair the damage caused by years of industrialization and development. The city’s forest includes over 7 million trees on public and private property, ranging from sidewalk trees to the natural forest in parks. 

Trees offer several key benefits to the city to combat the negative effects of city development, according to Forest for All’s agenda. Trees store and remove carbon, remedying excessive emissions; they filter air pollution; they reduce flooding by soaking up stormwater, filtering it and providing cleaner water; they provide a habitat for wildlife, plants, fungi and more; they provide shade in the summer, offering an alternative to excessive energy use and providing relief from extreme weather events. 

“Investment in our urban forest means investment in our communities. Trees enhance the strength of social ties between neighbors and can help residents thrive in every neighborhood of our city,” says Forest for All in its agenda, emphasizing that investment in the urban forest renders mental health and social benefits, as well.

Forest for All targets four major types of tree growth: 

1. public rights of way, such as streets, sidewalks, parkways, highways and medians, and this growth makes up 25% of the city’s tree canopy according to the 2015 tree census; 
2. Forested natural areas, which are complex ecosystems and make up 28% of the city’s tree canopy;
3. Landscaped areas, which are intentionally planted and maintained, and these make up 10% of the total tree canopy;
4. and private homes and businesses where residents or owners maintain trees, and these trees make up 35% of the city’s tree canopy. 

The urban forest requires more than just trees — biodiverse plant, animal and microorganism life is necessary to have healthy soil, pollination and expansion of tree life. To get the benefits of trees, New Yorkers must invest in other living things like birds, bees, snakes and more. 

Forest for All unites agencies, nonprofits and volunteer groups to invest in the urban forest in several ways, starting with trees and extending to other wildlife and organisms. As of 2017, the city’s tree canopy covers 22% of the area with over 7 million trees, and over 250 local stewardship groups care for the trees. According to the Forest for All fact sheet, New York City’s trees reduce 1,100 tons of air pollution and 186,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the air each year, improving the quality of life for all residents, visitors and living things in the city.

To help connect New Yorkers to their urban forest, organizations involved in the coalition hosted a variety of events on Saturday, Oct. 26, for the third annual City of Forest Day. 

City of Forest Day educates and involves New Yorkers

Several organizations, including nonprofits and parks alliances, hosted City of Forest Day events for New Yorkers to learn about their urban forest. The initiative aims to connect residents with their urban forests through education, events and activities around the city, in the hopes that the skills and information obtained from the weekend will extend into everyday practices for residents.

“Across the city, there’s a number of different events that are designed to have New Yorkers engage with our urban forest,” said Monaco. “Here at Prospect Park, we’re planting about 300 trees in a section of the park that’s been damaged by an environmental threat — pests that have destroyed a number of ash trees. We’re going to be replanting native species to replenish the forest and the trees we’ve lost. We also have a number of educational activities at our nature center at the boathouse. People can take a nature walk with our naturalists to understand more about the plants and animals that live in Prospect Park, and we’ll be doing a tour in partnership with Turnstile Tours to do a nature walk.”

APNA Adult Day Care Executive Director and CEO of APNA Brooklyn Community Center Erun Hanif said the community center aims to engage with specific communities and subgroups to make sure everyone in the city has access to education and opportunities to do their part for the mission. Hanif noted the importance of investing in hyperlocal and hyper-specific pockets of people getting involved in the movement for a thriving urban forest.

“APNA’s beautification project was initiated to improve a local neighborhood park which has been waiting to get some attention for many years. A group of volunteers started organizing and advocating for this park and got involved with NYC Parks, City of Forest Day, Nature Perseverance and other advocates,” said Hanif. “It is APNA’s first year to participate on this City of Forest Day, which will provide culturally and linguistically appropriate space for our young girls and women to socialize, participate in healthy activities, explore and get educated about green spaces and how to get involved as one of the fastest growing AAPI communities.”

Monaco pointed out that trees in Prospect Park are already combatting the effects of the climate crisis, and she believes that learning to care for one’s park can transfer to caring for the city and, in turn, the planet. 

“We’re seeing increasing extreme rain, extreme heat, and the trees that we have in the park are our first defense against that,” said Monaco. “It’s several degrees cooler the second you walk into the park because of the canopy and the shade that trees provide. We have acres of pervious surface where storm water can be retained. I want New Yorkers to know that caring for our parks helps combat climate change.”

Some communities have been overlooked when it comes to environmental opportunities, which is why APNA hosted a “Sister Walk” at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens for City of Forest Day. The event targeted Muslim women and considered their cultural preferences to make an environmental initiative more accessible. 

“Events specifically for women are a rare opportunity in our community, which is why we’re proud to host this trip. It provides a chance for growth, empowerment and connection through a fun and enriching experience at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden,” said Hanif. “Muslim women usually do not join health and fitness programs and activities in open spaces. This program is very important for our organization because it will help us in working on developing more programs for the health, physical fitness and mental wellbeing of our girls and women in partnership with other agencies and advocates.”  

Those who participated in the City of Forest Day event can continue to participate in fostering the urban forest in their neighborhood through other events that APNA hosts in the Brighton Beach area. The Nature Conservancy reported in a study that only 17% of the city’s trees are in areas largely populated by people of color, and Forest for All is hoping to remedy this disparity through events with local organizations like APNA.

“Residents can get involved by attending APNA’s Beautification Initiative, where we host clean-up and beautification activities to enhance the look and feel of our neighborhood,” said Hanif. “They can also become civically engaged in this issue through the various programs and projects APNA brings to the community, ensuring everyone’s voices are heard.”

Hanif added, “Education comes in many forms, tailored to different backgrounds and levels of understanding. For our community, we often use a religious perspective to connect people to nature. In addition, education about ecological and environmental issues should be designed and disseminated by keeping in mind the age, cultural values and preferences of the individuals.”

The Prospect Park alliance also organized programming for subcommunities to make sure all New Yorkers were served during City of Forest Day. 

“We’re also doing a specific tour for the Bangladeshi Ladies Club, which is a group of women who are dedicated to making sure that the Bangladeshi community has a relationship to the park,” said Monaco. “It’s an entrance for people that you know in your neighborhood or your community to all do something together that will empower people to feel more confident in going on a nature walk by themselves or with their families.”

Forest for All partners try to meet New Yorkers at a variety of levels of understanding and experience to create a more environmentally-minded city. All the organizations involved in City of Forest Day emphasized the importance of equipping New Yorkers with a sense of ownership and stewardship towards the city’s urban forest.

“Sometimes people feel like this is not for them, or should they be going into the forest very much,” said Monaco. “This is your urban forest, and we want people to really connect with nature.”

Organizations, groups and individuals can get involved with Forest for All by signing up on its website.