Actually, it’s more than that. That ridiculously specific number refers to trees that are (a) not located in parks or on private property (in other words, street trees) and (b) have been tagged and recorded by the NYC Department of Parks. Since there are more trees in parks and on private property than there are street trees, the recorded number is a sample rather than anything resembling a city-wide total.
I have neither counted trees nor hacked Parks records. As part of the overall open-data stance of the NYC government, the street tree database is available to all. The interface has a great feature: as you zoom in from the city-wide view, you get more and more subtotals for various areas. The database does not simply number the trees, it also records their species, caliper size, and recent care they’ve received; estimates are given for various ecological benefits that each tree and each group of trees provides.
Zooming in on the neighborhood I grew up in (“neighborhood 49”, AKA Flushing) gives some combined stats on all the street trees in the area. If I didn’t already know the area, I could try to make some deductions from the street tree patterns: the intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue is an intensely busy commercial district, but Roosevelt becomes more residential as you head east, and so street trees start to appear once you cross Union Street.
It is possible to “favorite” a tree, and people have. I wondered about that for a moment, and then realized that I remember the two trees flanking the entrance to our old apartment house – both London Plane trees, IDs 3747465 and 3750832 – from some fifty years ago.
For those who don’t recognize the title of this post: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
