Publication Details
Constructing New York City's urban forest. The politics and governance of the MillionTreesNYC campaign
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Year Published
2014
Publication
In: Sandberg, L. Anders; Bardekjian, Adrina; Butt, Sadia, eds. Urban forests, trees and greenspace. A policy perspective. New York, NY: Routledge: 242-260. Chapter 16.
Abstract
In 2005-2006, bureaucrats at the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) began to marshal quantitative evidence to argue for investment in tree planting as part of Mayor Bloomberg's long-term sustainability plan, PlaNYC 2030, launched in 2007. Concurrently, Bette Midler—the celebrity founder of the non-profit New York Restoration Project (NYRP)—announced her dream of planting one million trees in New York City. These two efforts were brought together as the MillionTreesNYC campaign, a formal public-private partnership to plant and care for one million trees citywide by 2017. Realizing that this effort could not be sustained in isolation, leaders of the campaign created an Advisory Committee that engaged more than 100 environmental organizations. Various programs were then implemented to build public awareness about trees—focusing on the multi-functional benefits of the urban forest—and create a constituency of engaged citizens involved with the campaign.
Citation
Campbell, Lindsay K. 2014. Constructing New York City's urban forest The politics and governance of the MillionTreesNYC campaign. In: Sandberg, L. Anders; Bardekjian, Adrina; Butt, Sadia, eds. Urban forests, trees and greenspace. A policy perspective. New York, NY: Routledge: 242-260. Chapter 16.