Through our stewardship program, we maintain public green space, create wildlife habitats, care for street trees, and plant gardens. We work with thousands of corporate, community, and student volunteers to maintain public open spaces on the Lower East Side.
Stewardship
Stewarding Public Open Space in the Lower East Side
The Clyde Romero Memorial Garden in full bloom in 1995.
We’ve been the stewards of spaces such as the Clyde Romero Memorial Garden and East River Park and work with other local stewardship groups to care for spaces across the Lower East Side. To help us steward the green spaces in our community, we coordinate corporate, community, and school volunteering events. Together we can improve the health of our community and beautify our neighborhood.
Street Tree Care
Street tree care workshop attendees caring for trees in the Lower East Side.
Street trees in New York City provide oxygen to breathe, filter water and air, cool us in the summer, and provide habitats for beneficial organisms. Although these trees are an essential resource, there are limited publicly dedicated resources for maintaining them. Through our tree care workshops, we hope to empower street tree stewards across the city.
Our street tree care events educate and train participants about how to care for our urban forest. At our events, we work with volunteers to remove litter from tree beds, add mulch and/or compost, water the trees, and plant flowers.
Local Native Plants
Symphyotrichum laeve, smooth American aster
Monarchs, skippers, and clouded sulphur butterflies are attracted to smooth asters in fall.
Solidago caesia, blue-stemmed goldenrod
In part-shade and part-sun naturalistic woodland gardens, goldenrod acts as a host plant for many caterpillars and moths.
Dicentra cucullaria, Dutchman’s breeches
Early spring ephemeral that retreat underground in summer.
Asclepias incarnata, swamp milkweed
Many pollinators are attracted to pink flowers during summer, including monarch butterflies and caterpillars.
Mertensia virginica, Virginia bluebells
Early spring blooms provide tiny native bees with floral resources.