A New York Times article details the surprisingly difficult to catalogue history of New York's greenery.
Andy Newman writes about the "leafing of New York." A side-by-side comparison of historic photographs of streets with their current conditions is all it takes to reveal: "the blankness filled in and softened by soaring pin oaks, the camouflage-pattern trunk of a London plane, or a line of leggy young pears or maples."
Yet, writes, Newman, "[there] is no way to prove this assertion. Street-tree censuses were not reliable until the 1990s. The tree population fluctuates — waves of disease and storm and municipal fiscal spasm periodically thin the urban forest and undo the city’s tree-planting efforts."
The article goes on to explain more of the disconnects in the history of New York's urban forest, as well as links to two of the photography projects that help document the city's natural changes.
FULL STORY: In Leafy Profusion, Trees Spring Up in a Changing New York

Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees
More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?

LA’s Tree Emergency Goes Beyond Vandalism
After a vandal destroyed dozens of downtown LA trees, Mayor Karen Bass vowed to replace them. Days later, she slashed the city’s tree budget.

Sacramento Leads Nation With Bus-Mounted Bike Lane Enforcement Cameras
The city is the first to use its bus-mounted traffic enforcement system to cite drivers who park or drive in bike lanes.

Seattle Voters Approve Social Housing Referendum
Voters approved a corporate tax to fund the city’s housing authority despite an opposition campaign funded by Amazon and Microsoft.
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