Riverside Park Volunteers Come Together for ‘Tree-Cycling’ at Mulchfest 2025

On Saturday, January 11, 2025, Riverside Park Conservancy hosted another successful Mulchfest at River Run Playground on 83rd Street in the Park. Mulchfest, a city-wide NYC Parks initiative, recycles New York City’s Christmas trees and chips them, turning them into compost that nourishes tree beds.

The event would not have been possible without the collaboration of Riverside Park Conservancy staff, many partners at NYC Parks, the New York City Department of Sanitation, Earth Matter NY, and dozens of community volunteers. All played a key role in making Mulchfest successful. 

Earth Matter NY spoke to volunteers and parkgoers about composting. 

“I think the partnership between city agencies and local organizations is one of the things that makes Mulchfest so special,” said Kristen Meade, Director of Volunteer Initiatives. “This event is really fun because it’s educational and people are interested in recycling the trees.”

The sense of community was palpable throughout the day. “This year’s Mulchfest has been engaging, and very positive,” said Marcus Caceres, Volunteer Events Coordinator. “Everyone’s working together, and it’s so special to see different age groups coming together. Volunteers get to take home a bag of mulch that reminds them of the smell of Christmas but also acts as a memento of what they’ve done to help out the park and the city.”  

The Grinch, who helped with the ‘tree-cycle’ process throughout the day, poses with volunteers. 

Despite the chilly weather, spirits remained high. “It’s been so cold this week, and yet, we have over 60 volunteers here, including our longtime volunteer ParkTenders and PlacePartners,” said Meade. “It’s rare that you have this kind of turnout on a day like now where it’s just about freezing.” 

Riverside Park Conservancy staff Marcus Caceres, Volunteer Events Coordinator, and Kristen Meade, Director of Volunteer Initiatives share a laugh at Mulchfest. 

The tangible impact of the event was immediately clear. Over 1,300 trees were chipped at the Riverside Park location, leaving a fragrant pine smell in the air.

“It’s amazing. The scent here is like Christmas in a can. You can smell it from blocks away, and it’s drawing people to this location right here by the playground on 83rd Street,” said Merritt Birnbaum, the Conservancy’s President & CEO. “We’ve had so many people walking by all day, asking what’s going on. Even people who didn’t know about the event have been just wanting to pitch in and help.” 

The smell of pine trees filled the air in Riverside Park and along Riverside Drive. 

The work carried out by volunteers, staff, and partners at Mulchfest not only left a great smell in the air but also helped the park and environment. 

“When you start to think about how many trees New York City ‘tree-cycles,’ it’s very exciting. Instead of filling up landfills, the trees are actually going back to the land,” said Meade.  

“Pine mulch is very good for soil,” added Caceres.

The community engagement extended beyond pre-registered volunteers. Riverside Park’s Mulchfest location attracted over 60 attendees. Many volunteers who were passing by decided to join the fun on the spot.

Students of all ages pitched in to help chip trees and spread fresh mulch in tree beds along Riverside Drive, including a large group of students from The Bronx High School of Science. 

Students from The Bronx High School of Science spread freshly made mulch on tree beds alongside Riverside Drive. 

“It seems like a nice way to use Christmas trees,” said one student part of the Bronx Science group. Another student added, “I wanted to help the trees so that they can help with [solving] climate change. Just taking in nature, it just feels good in a way I can’t describe.”

Beyond students, volunteers of all ages and backgrounds, from across the city and beyond, participated in Mulchfest. Nancy Hort, visiting her family on the Upper West Side from Arlington, Virginia, joined the event with her husband and grandchild. 

“We were just coming to the park and we’re like, wow, people bring their trees, and they use the mulch,” said Hort. “What a great recycling and it looks like an incredible community effort. We think this is phenomenal and we’re very impressed with the neighborhood as a whole.”  

About Riverside Park Conservancy   

From 59th Street to 181st Street, from riverfront to city-side, Riverside Park Conservancy cares for and enhances six miles of parkland for present and future generations. Working together with NYC Parks, we make improvements as diverse as the park itself and the city it serves. 

Shape Up NYC, a NYC Parks program in partnership with NYC Service, Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation) offers free fitness classes to help New Yorkers get and stay fit.

Summer on the Hudson events are free and open to the public. Seating is limited, unreserved, and available on a first-come, first-served basis. If there is heavy rain at the time of the event, the event will be canceled. For weather updates, check nyc.gov/parks/soh 2 hours before the event.

New York City Council Committee on Parks
Thursday, March 21, 2024
Committee on Parks and Recreation – Preliminary Budget Hearing
Testimony of Riverside Park Conservancy

Good afternoon, my name is Merritt Birnbaum, and I am the President and CEO of Riverside Park Conservancy. We are one of over 400 organizations that belong to the Play Fair Coalition. Thank you to Parks Committee Chair Shekar Krishnan for holding this hearing and for his tireless advocacy to tackle the crisis facing our parks.

Riverside Park Conservancy works through an agreement with NYC Parks to help the City care for 450 acres spread across five parks, along 6 miles of waterfront in upper Manhattan from West 59th Street to West 181st Street. We are fortunate to have built a 35-year history that leverages thousands of
hours of volunteer time and significant funding to supplement the City’s dwindling workforce. We recognize that the vast majority of parks in our city do not have the benefit of Conservancy groups. Our situation only underscores how dire the current crisis is for parks in our most vulnerable communities.

Make no mistake: our parks are in crisis. We see it every day in Riverside, Fort Washington, West Harlem Piers, and Sakura as we struggle to keep these parks clean, safe and green.

In June 2008, our district had approximately 79 CPWs or City Parks Workers. This June, we will be lucky if we have 20 of them. CPWs do
everything – from picking up trash, to cleaning bathrooms, to removing graffiti. They are the frontline of the Parks Department, and in our park alone, their ranks have fallen to 25% of what they were 16 years ago. In smaller parks around the City, this type of deficit means we’re not talking about 1 worker per park — we’re talking about a fraction of 1 worker per park.

How can we accept this? Parks are critical infrastructure, and they need to be funded the same way we fund roads, bridges, police, sanitation and hospitals.

In the last five decades, New York City has built 200 new parks. How can our city pride itself on building new parks and not dedicate the resources we need to maintain them?

In 1970, NYC Parks headcount was 11,000. Forty-five years later, and we are looking at a headcount of only 7,000.

A simple math question: How can we have 200 more parks today and 4,000 fewer Parks workers?

How can our government say it prioritizes sanitation and safety and not consider the public parks that occupy 14% of our city’s surface area as needing those funds?

Just this past Sunday in our park, NYC Parks staff who were slated for spring landscape work were pulled away to paint over an incidence of major offensive graffiti in a high-traffic location. They dropped what they were doing and pivoted, because that is what CPWs do – they respond to needs on the ground and they get the work done.

– If we want bathrooms open and clean, we need staff.

– If we want lawns that are green and not filled with rotting trash, we need staff.

– If we want stairs and pathways that are clear of safety hazards, we need staff.

– If we want healthy trees and plants, we need staff.

Our parks are a direct reflection of our City’s commitment to the health and happiness of its residents. We demand that the City fulfil its promise and deliver 1% of our budget to parks. This is a rounding error for you, and a lifeline for all of us.