A Tree Grows in Chelsea: Bottcher adds $800,000 to New Fund, Plants 500th ‘Street Tree’

City Council member Erik Bottcher said he has started a Tree Fund with the Horticulture Society of New York and allocated $800,000 in City Council funds in the district that includes most of Chelsea as well as parts of Greenwich Village and Hell’s Kitchen.

He unveiled the new initiatives as he helped plant what he said was the 500th new “street tree” since he took office as a first term City Council member less than two years ago.

When Bottcher took office at the start of 2022, he had set the lofty goal of planting 1,000 new street trees in City Council District 3 over what he hoped was a two-term incumbency.

The two-term plan was compressed because the Council, which normally elects representatives to four-year terms, was somewhat truncated over the past election cycle due to redrawing of district maps to comply with population shifts following the US Census in 2020, even though the District 3 boundaries did not change much.

The Shumard Oak tree that Bottcher helped plant on W 15th street, in between 6th and 7th avenue on July 11 puts the goal at the halfway point less than two years since taking office.

Of course, since it is New York, some people complained about the trees.

A person identified as Dominick Romeo complained on the NextDoor blog, “Did you see Erik Bottcher boasting about 500 new trees he planted? We have the worst lighting in our neighborhoods, which causes more crimes and more broken windows, and he wants more trees. Time to get rid of these awful Democrats in New York City Council folks...”

That generated an immediate reaction from West Village resident Susan Woodland, who posted on NextDoor: “Trees clean the air and shade the street. Next time you walk down a tree-line block, notice how much cooler it is when you walk onto the avenue. Five hundred new trees planted will make our lives a little bit healthier in this crowded, hot city.”

Bottcher said that the Shumard Oak tree he helped plant on W. 15th St between 6th and 7th Ave. is something that will serve the community for generations to come if properly treated. Shumard Oaks are known to be resilient, long lived, and fast growers according to the USDA Plants Database.

NYC Director of Street Tree Planting, Navé Strauss, shared the impact trees can have on an urban environment like NYC, and how one tree goes far beyond “You and me,” he said while addressing the crowd and Councilman Bottcher.

Among the handful of spectators drawn to the 10 a.m. on hot muggy morning was Jone Noveck, who said she resided in District 3 and was planting anti-dog litter signs alongside the trees. She wore a bright green vest with a logo that said “Friends of Hell’s Kitchen Trees” and had taken the initiative to protect trees with gator bags–also known as water bags–that she had bought with her own funds. She began using her own funds to care for the trees about a year ago, “I felt bad for these young trees because they didn’t stand a chance [...]” she told Chelsea News. “I started working on funding street trees. I started learning more and more about them and I realized these trees cost a lot of money. They’re a big investment. A $10 gator bag can save this tree,” she said, “and a tree costs between $2,500 and $4,000 to plant.”

Councilman Bottcher also unveiled what he called the District 3 Tree Fund, in partnership with the Horticulture Society of New York. The goal of the fund is to enable the community to help grow the amount of street trees we have, as well as to continue and improve our care for the street greenery we have, and the nature that will be planted in the future. Whether it be residents, businesses, or those who simply would like to help out, The District 3 Tree Fund is not only going to promote the additions of more street trees, but also make helping accomplish the goal of achieving a greener and more sustainable city much more accessible for the average person who isn’t fully immersed in the world of agroforestry.

“Councilman Bottcher has been an early champion of planting the unplantable, even before he was elected councilman,” said Liza Ehrlich, chief operating officer of the Horticulture Society of New York. Bottcher has been an advocate for the Street Tree Steward Program that runs through the NYC Parks Stewardship. This is a volunteer based program that employs local residents in “forest and wetland restoration, planting and pruning street trees, harvesting and propagating native seed and monitoring local wildlife.”

Under the volunteer program run by the Parks Dept., residents who qualify can receive training, licensing, and proper equipment to work independently in their neighborhood and work toward becoming a “Super Steward.”