The City of Newburgh Environmental Justice Fellows are looking to plant more trees to create a greener Newburgh.
“We’re missing 4,000 trees in the city of Newburgh from what we had a few decades ago,” said Kathy Lawrence, board chair of the Greater Newburgh Parks Conservancy. Lawrence, who appeared at the city council work session last week along with several of the city’s Environmental Justice Fellows, told the council that it’s not enough to just plant the trees, they need to be cared for and nurtured.
“Trees and tree canopies are essential in a life and death setting,” Lawrence said. “Some people think of trees as icing on the cake. I’d like everyone to understand they are really critical to life.”
She said trees help create community cohesion, provide cooling in the summer, windbreaks in the winter and can help people with asthma.
Lawrence said three partner organizations, the Conservation Advisory Council, Outdoor Promise and the Greater Newburgh Parks Conservancy, have teamed up as partners of the Arbor Day Foundation to initiate an Environmental Justice Fellowship program in the City of Newburgh, made possible by a partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation and TD Bank. The organizations, which have already received one Environmental Justice grant, have now applied for an additional $20,000 Environmental Justice grant. According to its website, the Environmental Justice Fellowship program centers its work on “environmental justice strategies; black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) leadership; peer-to-peer community engagement; and equitable access to trees. To ensure that our activities will be appropriate, just and long-lasting, our primary focus is on supporting young community leaders who can share their passion and skills for tree-based environmental justice with their families, friends, neighbors and local business owners.”
Four women, Ameesah Cotten; Heidy Bonilla; Kathryn McKenzie; and Marichen Montiel have been chosen as the 2021 Environmental Justice Fellows who will gather community input to be used to identify areas for fall 2021 tree planting and to inform the priorities and activities of partnering organizations and future Fellows. Residents are invited to visit newburghparksconservancy.org/newburgh-street-trees to take the tree survey that’s available in both English or Spanish.
Cotten, a 2020 NFA graduate, is studying public health at the University of New Hampshire. She met with business owners on South Street who were concerned with the disparity in tree planting between Liberty Street and South Street, a predominantly Black neighborhood.
Bonilla, a native of Honduras, wants the Latin community to be involved in the process.
Councilwoman Ramona Monteverde wondered how 4,000 trees could have vanished.
“ I can speak for improper planting that has been an issue,” Cotten said. Homeowners, she said, planted their own trees without the proper knowledge. Now there’s an online course available to educate people.
Genie Abrams, a member of the city’s Conservation Advisory Council, said part of it can also be traced back to the ill-fated Urban Renewal program of the early 1970s. Other issues include natural causes like disease, trees being hit by cars and the fact that the city never had the money to replace them.
Council members voiced their support for the program.
“We are a tree city,” said Councilman Anthony Grice. “I think that’s important for the community to know. I am in support of everything you are doing, and keep up the good work.”
“We feel,” added Abrams, “that trees are the solution to the pollution!”