• People -- Introduction
• Living Memorials: Acts of Social Meaning Create Places of Resilience
• People's Relationship with Trees
• Lessons from the Field: Living Memorial Stewards
  • Forest
  • Civic Grounds
  • Park
  • Community Garden
  • Found Space
  • Event Specific

Community Garden
 

Trees for Life and Unity Project

Site: Community Gardens, South Bronx, NY
Stewardship type: Partnership: Non-profit/informal groups
Initiated by: Green Guerillas and La Familia Verde
Maintenance: Garden groups
Land Jurisdiction: varies

Purpose: The planting of memorial trees will serve to remember the victims of the tragedy and will provide community gardens with the trees they need but cannot afford. La Familia Verde hopes that these trees will also work to address their priority areas of health and immigrant services. Tree planting improves air quality, a necessary health benefit in an area with a disproportionately high asthma rate. Moreover, the programming component of La Familia Verde uses plantings as a chance to promote positive inter-racial, cultural, and lingual relations--an important end in an extremely international area with many recent immigrants from Africa, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Reason site was selected: Their USFS proposal states, "in the aftermath of the tragic events of September 11th, City residents have sought out open spaces to gather to reflect and connect with each other and living things. New York City's network of more than 700 community gardens--located in the heart of neighborhoods in all the boroughs--proved to be a natural choice for local residents who were seeking refuge and public places to gather and reflect. For over twenty years, community gardens have not only been beautification projects, but have functioned as outdoor community centers, providing neighborhood people with safe and accessible spaces where to gather, socialize and even organize." The Tremont Community Garden, in specific, was selected because its site was recently expanded and they have a large open area that is in need of shade trees. This garden is a Trust for Public Land site, and is therefore permanently protected. Other gardens are being selected according to need and capacity to plant.

Events planned for the site: The 40-110 trees will be planted and cared for by the existing network of garden volunteers. They also plan to post description of the project on garden fences and bulletin boards, along with information on open hours in which the public and victims' families can visit. They will invite family members to become part of the garden committee that cares for the trees. Further, they intend to hold public processes to determine which trees are most appropriate as September 11 memorials. They will hold groundbreaking ceremonies with victims' families, gardeners, other community members, press, and government officials.

Additional Field Observations and New Developments:
A total of 40 trees of the following species types were planted either as single trees or in groups up to a maximum of seven planted at Tremont: Lilac, Juniper, Katsura, Cypress, Holly, Weeping Cherry, Irish Yew, Magnolia Royal Star, Kousa Dogwood, and Apple. Unifying signage is located at all of these sites, and a number of community education events were held in association with this project, to attempt to contribute to the urban forestry knowledge and skills of urban gardeners. Green Guerillas held two tree care workshops in May of 2002, given by tree care expert Bruce McInnes at 2001 Daly Ave. Community Garden and at the Garden of Happiness. All Bronx gardeners and some upper Manhattan gardeners were invited. They intend to hold one more tree care workshop with a focus on pruning sometime towards the end of September of October 2003. An update as of December 2003 from Karen Washington reports that although 2001 Daly Avenue will be transferred to New York City's Office of Housing Preservation and Development, the garden group has negotiated for a new site to which existing plants and trees, including memorial trees, will be transferred.

The project held a formal dedication in November of 2002 at the Tremont Community Garden, but it is likely that many of the 19 garden sites throughout the South Bronx held their own dedications among their groups and communities. In phase II, the social and site assessment team will hold follow up site visits with these gardens, as well as key informant interviews with staff at Green Guerillas. This project serves as an example of the potential for community gardens to be viable tree planting sites. Efforts that target low-income, or tree-deficient neighborhoods for street tree plantings should also work with existing garden sites, networks, stewards, and advocacy groups to create and sustain the urban forest.

On a trolley tour of gardens in the South Bronx in May 2002, garden advocate Karen Washington described the history of the movement:

"La Familia Verde means The Green Family. It was formed back in 1998 and it was a result of the crisis that was going on throughout the city regarding vacant lots and open space. Some of the gardens in this area were threatened and had nowhere to turn. And everyone knows that where there is unity, there's strength.



So we formed a coalition first of all to show unity, and second of all to make sure that we got the right information, that things were not based on hearsay or fear, that we were able to sit at the table with other greening groups as well as our politicians to find out exactly what was going on. What community gardens were threatened, why they were threatened, and what means we could take to preserve the community gardens in our area....

We now have about eight active community gardens in La Familia Verde. And we also want to let people know that we do more than just gardening, we consider ourselves community resource centers. Because we are in a community, many times its the community gardens that are the eyes and ears of the community. We work closely with the police department, we work closely with the schools because the community gardens act as an environmental resource for educational workshops. We also work with other greening groups, we hold workshops on planting and materials, and we also work with our community groups: we have the Mary Mitchell center and the Crotona Community Coallition. We are proactive, we hold voter registration every year, we inform the community of things that are going on in the community, and we want them to be proactive. We aren't here to take anyone's place, we are just here to give out resources. And we encourage everyone to participate in the community gardens.

Just look, if these two gardens were not here, what would the community look like? I moved here in 1985 and these two gardens were supposed to be homes. But when the developer decided it was too costly, he abandoned them. So imagine moving into a brand new house and living across the street with two empty lots filled with garbage and drug activity. You figured you had a piece of the American Dream, but it was turning into the American nightmare. So the people of the community joined together and took a stand and saw hope in a community and got together with no outside money, just bare sweat, backs and bone. They got in there and took away the garbage and then joined with community groups such as Bronx GreenUp, Green Guerillas, Operation GreenThumb, and turned these empty lots into the green oases that you see today."