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Greening Stapleton: A Community Forestry Management Plan

This document is a guide to the greening of Stapleton and the adjacent neighborhoods of Clifton, Rosebank, Fox Hills, Park Hill and Tompkinsville. The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation (Parks) together with community residents developed a vision of a greener, healthier neighborhood. While the plan touches on many aspects of greening in the community, it primarily focuses on planting and caring for street trees.

This plan is informed by a detailed inventory of every existing street tree and all potential planting locations on the streets and in parks. Working with the community, Parks developed a strategy for increasing the tree cover the Stapleton study area. Overall, the goals are to increase the number of street trees from 2,476 to 5,050 or 100% stocked in 10 years. In April 2007, Mayor Bloomberg announced PlaNYC, a sustainability plan aimed at targeting 5 key issues of the city’s environment: land, air, water, energy, and transportation. As part of his plan to make New York City a model for the 21st century, Mayor Bloomberg announced the MillionTreesNYC Initiative. This initiative calls for planting 1 million trees within the next 10 years and coincides with the Mayor’s goal to increase NYC’s street tree stocking level from 73% to 100%. As a result, this plan serves as a practical guide to future activities and stewardship efforts in conjunction with the Mayor’s tree planting goals.