By Nicole Breskin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CHELSEA — Many of the trees planted under a city initiative die within the first few years. One Manhattan woman has taken it upon herself to save them.
MillionTreesNYC, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to plant 1 million trees across the city by 2017, has installed 29,000 trees across Manhattan since 2007. But several of those trees die due to big city hazards in the first few years after they're planted.
Enter Jessica Schweifel, founder of the nonprofit Root for Trees, who's starting a program in Chelsea to rescue thousands of trees before they meet an untimely death.
The eco-minded Manhattanite is raising funds to install tree guards for planters. She is also producing signs for the guards to remind locals about the value of trees.
“Trees do so much for us, providing us with air and shade,” said Schweifel. “I hope we can create more environmental consciousness here."
Roughly 7 percent of the trees the city plants each year die, organizers of the MillionTreesNYC project said.
“Dangers facing newly-planted trees include lack of proper care and maintenance, extreme weather conditions, damage done by chemical or organic waste, and vehicular damage,” said Andrew Newman, project coordinator for MillionTreesNYC.
Production of signs and tree guards is expected to begin in April, with the project anticipated to take off in the summer.
Through the MillionTreesNYC program, trees are planted by the Parks Department and the nonprofit New York Restoration Project, but their care is left to the community.
“I think we all know being a tree in a big urban city is not easy,” said Darin Johnson, vice president for the New York Restoration Project.
“This use of tree guards comes with innovative ideas to also use them as a point of education," he said of Schweifel's project. "The key point of Million Trees is public information, so people know the important of watering and protecting them.”
