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Every 10 years, the U.S. counts its people—and New York City counts its trees. And just like the human census, the city’s tree tally needs boots on the ground. Enter Trees Count 2025, the fourth-ever inventory of NYC’s leafy residents, and your chance to trade your laptop for a measuring tape and some fresh air.
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Launched by NYC Parks, Trees Count is more than a feel-good volunteer opportunity; it’s a massive, data-driven effort to understand, preserve and grow our urban forest. Volunteers are tasked with identifying, measuring and recording the species and condition of park trees across all five boroughs. No experience? No problem. Each event includes a 20-minute crash course in tree ID and data entry, plus a tote bag with everything you’ll need (minus the iced coffee).
Once trained, volunteers use the Tree Census app to venture into parks and get counting. It’s a choose-your-own-tree adventure: help out at a one-off event or keep going solo in smaller parks after your first outing. Upcoming events include Franz Sigel Park in the Bronx on Aug. 1, with more dates added regularly.
Why count trees? Because they're working overtime to keep the city livable—cleaning the air, cooling streets, capturing stormwater and quietly saving NYC over $150 million annually. Previous counts helped shape everything from street tree planting strategies to NYC’s acclaimed Tree Map, a living, clickable database of over 800,000 street and park trees, complete with ecological benefits and fun facts.
While this year’s street tree tally will be handled via high-tech LiDAR scanning and machine learning, the city still needs human hands—and eyes—to inventory the trees in its parks, playgrounds and picnic areas. The ultimate goal is to build a more equitable canopy and train the next generation of tree stewards in the process.
So if you’ve ever wanted to hug a tree and log it in an app, now’s your chance. Sign up, show up and help make NYC greener—one branch at a time.