Our Campaign for More Trees

Our goal: Plant trees in empty beds on Riverside Drive and in Riverside Park.

Trees give our beautiful, six-mile stretch of parkland its unique character. In addition to their natural beauty, our 26,000 trees provide enormous relief on hot summer days – making it feel up to 40 degrees cooler than direct sun exposure.

As our best assets in the fight against climate change, trees are vulnerable to severe weather, disease and other risk factors that impact their health and survival.

Right now, there are dozens of empty beds on Riverside Drive where trees once stood.

The Conservancy wants to plant trees in these empty spaces now and keep filling in gaps so we can strengthen our urban tree canopy. We’re committed to investing in immediate, tangible solutions like more trees for our park.

Say hello to Riverside Park’s newest trees! 👋

Thanks to the incredible response from 500+ donors to our “More Trees. Less Trash.” campaign, 54 trees were planted on Riverside Drive in December!

With your support, we’ve been able to move much more quickly, getting these trees in the ground within months of launching this campaign. We’re looking forward to carrying this momentum through the spring and planting even more trees throughout the Park — while at the same time giving this first round of new trees the special care they need to grow big and strong.

Trees are essential, giving our 400 acres of parkland its unique character and providing shade and cooling on hot days. As we grapple with more frequent extreme weather events, trees play an increasingly critical role in mitigating the impacts of climate change. Read more about the tree species planted below.

A Growing Tree Canopy

As part of the campaign, the following trees will be planted in key areas across the Park. Learn more about each tree below:

Ulmus americana – American Elm

One of the two main species planted extensively on Riverside Drive, nothing defines the Olmsted era horticultural legacy of the park more than the arching canopy of elm trees which line the pedestrian walkways of Riverside Drive. Planted continuously from 122^nd street to 107^th street and south from 91^st Street to 83^rd Street, these majestic trees provide shade and a unique landscape character. After many years of losing mature elms to Dutch Elm Disease, an insect transmitted fungal infection, our privately funded campaign of annual inoculations in combination with an initiative to replant with DED resistant cultivars, we can again enjoy the spreading canopy of these graceful trees. The current initiative has replaced 16 of these iconic trees on Riverside Drive.

Tilia cordata – Little Leaf Linden

June on Riverside Drive would not be the same without the sweet lemon, honey scent from the pale-yellow flowers of the lindens planted on the Drive from 106^th Street to 91^st Street and south from 83^rd Street to 79^th Street. This species is almost as common as the elm, growing from a pyramidal form when young to a mature, dense, spreading canopy that blends seamlessly with the adjacent elm plantings. In late spring the fragrance provides a welcome respite from the dense clouds of elm seeds which blanket Riverside Drive. The mature linden canopy provides welcome shade and is an excellent food source for pollinators.

Platanus × acerifolia – London Plane Tree

As much as the American Elm defines the Olmsted era horticultural history of Riverside Park, the London Plane tree, a hybrid of the native sycamore and Oriental Plane tree, has come to represent the typical palette of New York City under the administration of Park Commissioner Robert Moses. Riverside Park, which was redesigned and significantly expanded in the 1930s, is no exception. London Planes, with their distinctive exfoliating bark, reminiscent of camouflage, provide visual interest in the winter landscape and through exfoliation, filter pollutants allowing these trees to thrive in urban environments. Tolerant of compaction and atmospheric pollution, London Planes grow rapidly, and their wide canopy spread provides delicate shade throughout Riverside Park. They are to be found around playgrounds and areas of active recreation and one of our most notable landscape features, the allee of London Planes that lines the Promenade from 110^th Street to 110^th Street and on Riverside Drive north of 135^th Street. These plantings date from the Moses era park expansion in 1935.

Quercus palustris – Pin oak

Another stalwart of the 1930’s and work horse of the red oak family, the pin oak is another tree planted extensively citywide because of its general hardiness and tolerance of urban environmental conditions. Our park-wide palette includes red and scarlet oaks, but pin oak is by far our most dominant oak with formal plantings to be found at the 110^th Street recreation area by skate park. These tough trees provide excellent shade and sustain wildlife.

Cladrastris kentukea – Yellowwood

Another fragrant addition to the Riverside Park horticultural palette, yellowwood is an American native tree, originally from the Southeast but adapting to the northern climate. A beautiful, mature yellowwood is at home in the plaza south of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument at 89^th Street and Riverside Drive. To provide some company for this lone southerner, we have planted 3 additional yellowwoods at the plaza. A medium size tree with a spreading canopy, yellowwood bloom annually but most profusely every alternate or even third year. The leaves turn a golden yellow in the fall and the wood is indeed yellow.