You Can Explore 15K Of Prospect Park's Trees With This New Map

PROSPECT PARK, BROOKLYN — Brooklyn's backyard is home to almost 75 new trees thanks to a record planting season by the Prospect Park Alliance following damage caused by Hurricane Isaias.

The organization celebrated the park's 30,000 trees — including the dozens of new additions — with a Thanksgiving-themed event on Tuesday. The nearly 75 trees were funded by $150,000 from community members through the Alliance's tree program.

The record planting comes after Hurricane Isaias wreaked havoc on the park when it passed through New York City in August.

"Brooklyn's Backyard was hit hard this year by Hurricane Isaias, which felled over 60 trees and left 54 more with severe damage," Alliance President Sue Donoghue said. "Our commemorative tree program is an important way that the community gives back to our park, and many of these trees were planted in areas impacted by the storm."

The celebration also included the announcement of a survey of the park's trees funded by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

The $113,000 state grant allowed the Alliance to survey about half of the 30,000 trees to unveil their impact on Brooklyn's quality of life and to create a forest management plan.

The survey revealed the more than $2 million in environmental benefits provided by the park's trees, which can be explored through a Tree Keeper database.

Here's a look at some of what the trees do, according to the survey:

• Remove 21,000 pounds of pollutants from the air each year
• Remove 3,000 tons of greenhouse gases from the air each year
• Save 1,300 megawatt hours of energy consumption each year
• Save 22 million gallons of stormwater runoff from the city sewer system each year

Prospect Park Alliance conducts commemorative tree plantings each fall and spring. Roughly 1,100 trees have been planted through the program over the past 30 years.