project leader
Victoria W
location
153 Madison Ave
Manhattan (Lower Madison Ave. blocks between East 33rd and East 30th Streets)
latest update rss
Update! Lower Madison trees receive fresh compost.

the project

Our neighborhood is a commercial district with heavy pedestrian and vehicular traffic on lower Madison Avenue and side streets between East 30th and 33rd Streets. Our volunteer tree care team needs funding to purchase soil mixed with compost to add to tree pit beds for 17 neighborhood street trees in late March or early April. This would improve our street trees' health and beautify our neighborhood. These trees absorb carbon dioxide, reducing air pollution, and provide shady canopies on hot summer days. Targeted street trees are NOT in a business improvement district.

the steps

 

1. In March, team leader Victoria Watkins and tree care team members will alert local residents and business people to this fundraising opportunity to sustain our urban forest.

2. Team members will schedule weekend dates in late March or early April to work on 17 tree pit beds in our neighborhood.

3. An order for soil-compost bags will be placed with the Lower East Side Ecology Center.

4. Our team will remove litter, dog waste and weeds from tree pit beds. Next, we will gently loosen soil with hand cultivators to avoid damaging roots. Soil-compost mixture will be added to tree pit beds and cultivated with existing soil.

5.  April through October, we will continue to work with building superintendents to fill Treegator watering bags on our street trees each week, clean tree pits and cultivate soil. Citizen pruners on our team will prune trees when necessary.

why we're doing it

 

After we removed graffiti eyesores and persuaded the Department of Sanitation to add more litter baskets on busy street corners, we asked Million Trees NYC to plant street trees.  After 14 trees went in, several people made the same spontaneous comment to our team: “It’s beginning to look like a neighborhood!”  Since November 2009, team members have been adopting and caring for new trees, as well as older, neglected trees. We have been scrapping together funds for soil management and Treegators watering bags from our personal funds.  Preserving and protecting our street trees is a civic activity that brings residents and business people in the community together.

 

budget

Lower East Side Ecology Center 212) 477-4022 www.lesecologycenter.org/ Each 10 lb. bag of soil - compost mixture is $12. We need 18 bags of soil – compost mixture for our project. Total cost is $216, plus an 8% administrative fee of $17 to ioby.

updates

Update! Lower Madison trees receive fresh compost.

The Lower Madison Partnership’s tree care team added fresh compost to soil in 20 tree pits in the neighborhood on Sunday, April 15, 2012.  Volunteers cleaned tree pits, loosened soil with hand cultivators and added fresh compost. We started on Madison Avenue tree beds first before the crowds arrived for a Sunday afternoon parade. Next we covered tree pits on East 30th through 33rd Streets.  Pedestrians complimented us on getting our hands dirty to take care of young trees beautifying our neighborhood’s  sidewalks.  Our street trees are ready for springtime!

We are grateful for support we received from IOBY in helping us raise money to purchase bags of compost from the Lower East Side Ecology Center to do this environmental project.   

photos

This is where photos will go once we build flickr integration

donors

  • Katie C.
  • Victoria W.
  • Caroline G.