Tree in Need of Pruning

I was passing by this dead tree yesterday, and it reminded me that the City Council and the mayor’s office added $2M for tree pruning to the proposed $1.45M tree maintenance budge. That’s more than doubling the amount allocated to keeping trees healthy falling branches at bay. It’s not a permanent addition to the annual budget, but parks officials seem confident that the one-time boost will be enough to help get the city back on a more regular pruning schedule — every 7 years instead of every 15, says the New York Times.

And our Councilmember Brad Lander, for one, is optimistic about the impending results:

“Tree pruning is something where you don’t see the impact of deferring until there’s a tragedy. …As incidents have shown, there’s a real risk, and, hopefully, getting pruning back on a better schedule will mean New Yorkers will be safer.”

You can call and report trees in need of pruning to 311.