After Hurricane (or Tropical Storm) Isaias tore through New York City, the city, businesses, utilities, and neighbors have all been struggling to deal with the loss of mature trees. This tree on Randall’s Island (just over the 103st Bridge) is one example:

Before the storm and before COVID, the city had been marking-up, grinding out, and preparing a number of empty tree pits in our community for replanting with a new, young tree. This is a classic example:

Where the sidewalk has been cut out to the regulation size, and the address (on 5th Avenue) has been spray painted in white. This tree pit should have been populated in March but now who knows what will happen with the COVID related budget cuts that are starting to be felt in all city departments?

Street trees store 23% of all the carbon that New Yorkers produce. NYC ‘forests’ – think trees in parks – store another 69%:

See:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-28/planting-city-trees-with-a-new-focus-on-equity?