One of the more rewarding parts of my job is helping with overseeing the tree canopy in Washington Square Park. The lush greenery is a major attraction of the Park, and monitoring it is an important part of keeping our ecosystem here healthy. But there are certainly more onerous tasks than walking around admiring our beautiful trees.

Each day I’m out with the Parks Supervisors, inspecting the trees for dead limbs, disease, or other situations that require Parks Forestry intervention. For minor issues, our Head Gardener has sufficient training to take care of it in-house. But for problems arising on branches that are larger than 2 inches in diameter, or that are higher up in the canopy, we call in the experts.

Supervisors are trained to recognize a wide variety of potential problems, including ones that arise from trees. If we notice an issue that requires Forestry’s attention, they report the condition to Manhattan Forestry, which then dispatches a trained Forester to assess the situation in person and recommend next steps. That can range from doing nothing—merely an instruction to keep observing—to full removal of the tree at the most extreme end and everything in between. The Forestry team takes every possible opportunity to avoid tree removal, you’d be hard-pressed to find a tree lover that wants fewer trees! But when it comes to the safety of Park-goers, people take precedence. 

To that end, the keen observer may have noticed Forestry hard at work in Washington Square this summer. Following a more in-depth site-visit with Forestry and NYC Parks landscape architects, I have begun working on creating a comprehensive canopy succession plan for the entirety of the Park, from the perimeter trees to the interior. The goal is for this to be a guiding document to more strategically plan for additional plantings and removals over the next 15-20 years to better support the Park’s tree canopy. 

As a side benefit to having Forestry around more frequently for work on the succession plan, I’ve been able to take a more in-depth look at our existing trees with their assistance. The Park’s Ash trees have come under particular scrutiny and are slated for eventual removal due to susceptibility to infestation from Emerald Ash Borers, an invasive species that causes the trees to decay and become safety hazards over time. We are observing each of the Ash trees in the Park on a daily basis to ensure that they don’t pose any risks. That helped us to identify two trees in the SE lawn which were ready for full removal, as well as some other trees around the Park that were ready for a pruning. While it’s sad to see trees go, it has allowed for more sunlight in that quadrant to reach other plants, lawns, and trees.

Pruning trees may look dramatic, but it’s actually very beneficial for the health and wellbeing of the trees. The Northern Catalpa right next to the Arch is a great example. It had a significant number of dead branches at the top, but the rest of the tree is still going strong. Certified NYC Parks arborists gave it a good trim, and we’re already seeing new growth in the pruned sections, which is exactly what we hope for!

I look forward to sharing more tree-related updates as the work continues. In a space like Washington Square, which is a manicured landscape without any natural areas, it needs to be carefully managed. There’s a careful balance to including the right species, and to timing plantings and removals. The goal is to ensure that the canopy is always evolving, and that when a mature tree does reach the end of its life and needs to be removed, that removal has been planned for long enough that there is already a strategy to replace the gap in the canopy. We’re about 6 months into the process, and it could take at least another 6 months before things are finalized. When it’s ready I will look to share the plan with the community, and together we can dream about a green canopy for decades to come.