SUNNYSIDE — Dozens of trees will be planted in Sunnyside and Woodside this spring to replace those knocked down during Hurricane Sandy, community leaders said Monday.
The new trees are the result of a partnership between City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer and local environmental group Greening Western Queens.
When Hurricane Sandy struck last fall, Woodside and Sunnyside got through the storm largely unharmed — though many of the neighborhoods' trees didn't.
"Clearly, there were communities that were far more affected by Sandy than ours," Van Bramer said. "But it is very important to our community that the trees that were felled by Hurricane Sandy be replanted."
On Monday, the councilman and members of several local community groups mulched and watered a young tree that was recently planted at the corner of 43rd Street and 47th Avenue.
The tree was the first of 70 to be planted in Woodside and Sunnyside this spring. Greening Western Queens — a project of the City Parks Foundation's Partnerships for Parks — will plant in locations that lost their trees last fall, based on a list compiled by several community groups in the days immediately after the storm.
The new trees will be watered and cared for by neighborhood volunteers, the group said.
"In Sunnyside, we love our trees," Community Board 2 chairman Joe Conley said. "We'd like to see more, so this is a good start."
