By Michelle Mullen and Olivia Young | Riverdale Press
On Oct. 4, City of Forest Day brought new life to parks and green spaces across the five boroughs, which hosted activities promoting the importance of New York City’s urban forest.
In greater Riverdale, neighbors marked the special oak-casion together.
Tree Fest at Henry Hudson Park
Unlike The Lorax, Jodie Colón did not speak for the trees. Instead, she helped them tell their own stories at TreeFest.
Hosted by Friends of Spuyten Duyvil, the event invited neighbors to explore Henry Hudson Park from a novel perspective, bringing the urban forest to life with custom tree signs announcing, “This Tree Has A Story!”
“You might see trees, but you’re really not seeing them — you’re looking at them,” Colón said. “To really see them, you need to get to know them. So, it’s the trees talking.”
Each sign offered a different voice — like one made for the “Columbia” London Planetree reading: “You might ask me, ‘Are you from around here?’ But unlike most trees, I’m not native to any area of the world.”
Alongside each story was a “Tree-via” fact, like the “Columbia” London Planetree’s ability to exfoliate, ridding itself of pests, pollutants and diseases by shedding its outer bark.
For Colón, the project was about more than tree identification — it was about fostering a relationship with the towering flora, or as Colón puts it, “a reason to care.”
“People don’t see nature as living,” she explained. “They see it as infrastructure, and they don’t realize that breaking or ripping something off is like tearing out of your body. I’m trying to get people who don’t see trees to find interesting things.”
But the environmental steward didn’t bring this project to fruition alone. She recruited University of Mount Saint Vincent student and English major Leila Schiavo to co-write some of the stories.
Other TreeFest activities required getting down and dirty, with volunteers raking and collecting leaves for compost, and adding fresh mulch to the grounds.
Every Tree has a Story at Spuyten Duyvil Library
Colón’s City of Forest Day celebration didn’t stop at Henry Hudson Park. She left her mark on Spuyten Duyvil Library, too. In collaboration with librarian Aga Chen, Colón compiled a comprehensive list showcasing books “about or with trees in them,” copies of which were displayed near the library entrance.
The initiative grew out of the branch’s existing partnership with Colón, with staff caring for tree beds in front of the library alongside her as part of the Spuyten Duyvil Street Tree Habitat project.
“If I can get people to read about trees, they’ll start noticing them in their own lives,” Colón said. “You only take care of what you care about — and sometimes, it starts with a story.”
For Chen, it was a way to extend that care indoors, turning reading into another form of stewardship, one that she hopes may spark curiosity in readers to give a helping hand
“We take trees for granted,” she said. “They’re saving the city and our lungs.”
Forest Bathing at Wave Hill
Led by nature therapy guide Cindy Olsen, a group of visitors at Wave Hill embarked on a meditative journey through the Japanese art of shinrin-yoku, also known as forest bathing. The practice immerses participants in nature, encouraging them to engage the senses — sight, smell, sound and touch — while outdoors.
“Forest bathing is a way of really slowing down and giving yourself a chance to deeply connect with the forest, with nature, with everything that’s around,” Olsen explained. “But it’s not just about going to nature to get healing, it’s all about reciprocity.”
In one of the first acts of mindfulness, participants strolled through the serene garden — consciously tuning into the flora and fauna around them. The birdseed they sprinkled along the way was a gift to Mother Earth. Only then, the therapy guide said, were they ready to “receive” from the natural world.
Forest bathing is widely recognized for its health benefits, including its ability to reduce stress, lower blood pressure and improve cognitive health.
“It’s such a nice compliment to [City of Forest Day,] because [forest bathing] reignites that relationship with nature, with the trees, that we forget about,” Olsen added.
First-time forest bather Alicia Lewis described a sense of gratitude flooding over her during the meditation portion of the event — particularly for the leafy giants that City of Forest Day pays homage to.
“I took my shoes off, lay down and felt the grass, just took in the sun and all the sounds around us,” Lewis recalled. “One of the things [Olsen said] that really resonated with me was that trees are the lungs of our city, so it just made me feel so much closer to nature.”
Tree Planting in Ewen Park
Beneath the shade of a leafy canopy, dozens of residents grabbed shovels and gardening gloves and got to work.
Through the help of its neighbors, Ewen Park is now home to 55 new, native-New York saplings — juniper, oak, dogwood, sumac, maple and elm, to name a few — as well as 100 understory plants, or smaller foliage not as tall as a tree.
Park stewards guided participants through the process: dig a hole about the size of the plant’s root ball, dip the ball in a compost water mixture before planting, then cover with dirt and a layer of mulch for extra protection.
“What we’re doing here is making sure we have another generation of forests coming up,” said park steward and organizer Mason Jenkins. “It’s good for temperature control, air quality, quality of life and biodiversity.”
In the weeks leading up to City of Forest Day, stewards worked to clear invasive species such as multiflora rose and English ivy from surrounding trees and walls, as it would risk the growth of new and current trees.
“We live in a city that has a lot of cement,” steward José Gamboa said. “We want to see more green. We want to breathe cleaner air.”
Several attendees weren’t a part of the steward program but lived nearby. They were eager to help care for a space they regularly walk through, take their dogs to, and see from their apartment windows.
Monica Barraclough has lived on the same block as Ewen Park for nearly two decades. In 2020, she took the initiative to start cleaning the park herself, visiting the site with her family to pick up trash.
“During COVID-19, I felt so starved for green because we were inside so much,” she said. “That’s lasted on.”
The day nurtured more than plants. Residents said they made new connections and talked to neighbors they’d only passed by before in the park.
“If you’re moving to a city like New York City, community is so important for so many aspects of thriving,” Irving Watkins, a Manhattan University student, said. “So just give it a shot.”
Walk and Workday in Spuyten Duyvil Shorefront Park
In Spuyten Duyvil, volunteers worked to clear invasive species such as English ivy and honeysuckle. If not, vines could freeze over the roots during winter, taking vital nutrients.
At more than six acres, stewards have taken on smaller projects over the years, like clearing the trail, or making sure water from the nearby road doesn’t erode the park’s soil.
Daven Asafo-Adyei, a steward for three years, visits the park most Sundays. Before joining the program, he started a grassroots organization called Humane LLC, with the goal of bringing people of color into greenspaces.
“I just started going to the parks … trying to learn what I can,” Asafo-Adyei said. “I fell in love with it. I’ve been doing it ever since.”
The shorefront park sits under the Henry Hudson Bridge and next to the Metro-North Railroad. Despite the infrastructure and disruption, Colón said several native-New York species — like giant puffball, marsh fleabane, white snakeroot and groundsel — began growing on their own.
“Being here is so restorative,” Colón said. “We spend our lives in close views, looking at screens …. When people come out here — they can see further. Not just physically, but also in time. There’s a way for us to make things better.”
Original here.