Newsday
MillionTreesNYC initiative exceeds yearly goal
October 29, 2008
NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and entertainer Bette Midler have planted the 111,111 tree in the city to mark the one-year anniversary of MillionTreesNYC.
The public-private campaign’s goal is to plant and care for a million trees citywide by 2017.
At Wednesday’s ceremony in East Harlem, the mayor said that civic and community response had resulted in MillionTreesNYC exceeding its first year’s goal by nearly 20 percent.
The initiative’s first year planting goal was originally set at 93,397 trees; it exceeded that goal by 17,714 trees.
Planting efforts have been focused in six designated “Trees for Public Health” neighborhoods, to increase a tree canopy in the areas and help combat high rates of adolescent asthma.
