The city is planting about 130,000 trees annually, not enough to meet its target for an optimal tree canopy of 40 per cent. Together with city parks, they are home to 3.5 million trees. There are another 6.1 million trees on private property and about 600,000 street trees, according to city figures. Contractors removed large invasive trees from numerous parks, including 30 trees from Taylor Creek Park. Coincidentally, New York City staff turned to volunteers to tree plant after their budget for forest restoration was cut from $11 to $3 million in 2009.

Source: thestar December 31, 2018 10:30 UTC