New York City Council Committee on Parks & Recreation

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Oversight Hearing – Ensuring the Long-Term Health and Growth of the City’s Tree Stock

Kathy Park Price, Director of Advocacy and Policy

My name is Kathy Park Price, and I’m the Director of Advocacy & Policy at New Yorkers for Parks, a 118-year-old advocacy organization that fights for high-quality, fully-funded parks and open spaces for every New Yorker. We also help lead the Play Fair for Parks Coalition made up of more than 450+ organizations that support our parks system.

For many New Yorkers, trees are the part of the parks system we encounter most often in our daily lives even if someone does not step into a park or plaza on a given day. As the Parks Commissioner noted during her testimony, trees are literally part of our city’s infrastructure and need the same care and maintenance just like our streets, sidewalks and sewers do.

Tree-related issues are one of the most common reasons residents contact 311, and right now there are more than 30,000 unresolved service requests for tree care citywide. During the most recent winter storm alone, nearly 2,000 tree-related service requests were submitted.

These numbers reflect a system under strain. While the city continues to plant new trees, which is wonderful, there are not enough forestry staff to keep up with inspections and preventative care. Mature trees require consistent maintenance to stay healthy and safe.

This hearing is a reminder that the future of New York City’s urban forest is inseparable from the NYC Parks budget. The Council has set an ambitious goal to reach 30 percent tree canopy citywide as part of the forthcoming Urban Forest Plan. Achieving that goal will require more than planting trees. It requires investing in the workforce that maintains them.

We urge the Council to restore and baseline forestry staffing at NYC Parks so the agency can address service backlogs and care for the trees we already have, invest in maintenance and pruning to protect mature trees, and fully fund the implementation of the forthcoming Urban Forest Plan.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify.