Greening the Industrial Shoreline of Newtown Creek

In 2018, through a competitive process, the City Parks Foundation was awarded $53,777 in GCEF funding to plant Newtown Creek shorelines and nearby areas with native plants, trees, and shrubs, create a comprehensive map for public use of trees and other vegetation along the shoreline, and conduct public education about Newtown Creek’s ecology.

The project website can be found at: greeninggreenpoint.org

An inventory of all street and park trees throughout New York City, including those planted thru the Greening the Industrial Shoreline of Newtown Creek project, is available online at https://tree-map.nycgovparks.org/.

Photo 1 by Sophia Wohl.

• Created a map for public use of trees and other vegetation along Newtown Creeks’ shoreline
• Trained North Brooklyn Boat Club (NBBC) members to identify local species of trees and plants, and then had volunteers conduct surveys and mapping of the shoreline vegetation to contribute information to the website iNaturalist
• Using the surveys created by the project, planted and maintained 70 trees, 160 shrubs, and 1,500 perennials in 7 separate locations along the Creek shoreline and in nearby areas like street-ends
• Engaged approximately 90 participants in three public paddles to learn about the environmental history and ecology of Newtown Creek
• Created a maintenance plan for volunteer stewards from the Newtown Creek Alliance to use to maintain the areas planted by the project
• Helped create a green corridor linking the Newtown Creek Nature walk with other green spaces along Newtown Creek (Manhattan Avenue Street End Park, Penny Bridge) and the existing habitat along the shoreline

• Greening the Industrial Shoreline of Newtown Creek: Comprehensive map of Grenpoint trees and other vegetation along Newtown Creek’s shoreline
• Greening the Industrial Shoreline of Newtown Creek: Site Summaries and Planting Plans