In collaboration with the City Arborist and Cornell Cooperative Extension Urban Forestry specialists, the OEC participated in several types of tree inventories. Youth have inventoried existing trees, potential tree planting sites, and bare root trees to help assess and improve conditions of the urban forest in Syracuse. The tree planting inventories were helpful because these inventories are utilized by the City Arborist to seek funding for tree planting or to determine fall planting sites.

Urban trees struggle to survive without proper stewardship. In this regard, the OEC has been an instrumental component of the City’s urban forestry efforts on the South and Near West Sides of Syracuse since 2005. Youth work with neighborhood and community groups to identify homeowners that want trees, lead community volunteers in tree plantings, and disseminate information about the benefits of trees and proper tree care.

OEC crew members worked with the City Arborist and Cornell Cooperative Extension staff to lead volunteers in large scale community tree plantings. Sometimes this meant planting 10 trees with children from a community center and at other times it meant working together with over 100 volunteers to plant hundreds of trees.

The success of an urban forest does not end with planting trees. New trees need proper watering, mulching, pruning, protection and stewards. Crew members play an active role in taking care of trees in parks and at schools; they also do outreach to residents with new trees to encourage stewardship.

ReLeaf Syracuse is the City’s initiative to develop a plan for the future of the City’s trees and to sustain the partnerships to work the plan into reality. The initiative is led by Syracuse Parks Department, Onondaga Earth Corps and a steering committee representing community organizations, business and government agencies.

It’s been over 20 years since the devastating Labor Day Storm that toppled thousands of trees across Syracuse (on public and private land). Despite efforts to bring back trees that were lost, Syracuse’s tree canopy cover of 27% has remained relatively unchanged since 1998 and is below the average of 34% for cities east of the Mississippi River. But City officials and numerous community partners want to change that through the initiative ReLeaf Syracuse.

The purpose of ReLeaf Syracuse is to develop an urban forest master plan that provides a roadmap to a healthy, safe and expanding tree canopy in the city. The plan will have definable and measurable 5-year and 20-year goals. A critical part of the initiative is to build on and expand partnerships to implement what is proposed in the plan.

Once complete the new master plan for trees in the city will be used to inform and update the city’s municipal tree ordinance which was last modified in 1981.

ReLeaf Syracuse was the name of the steering committee formed by then Mayor Roy Bernardi to develop a response plan after the devastating loss of trees following the Labor Day Storm of 1998. The committee disbanded in 2001 however, the spirit of that effort and the master plan that was developed after the storm remains the today through community stewardship and youth employment programs dedicated to the planting and care of trees.

*Text borrowed from Syracuse Parks & Rec website.

The OEC has been instrumental in introducing green infrastructure to Syracuse neighborhoods. Demonstration rain gardens at 515 Tully St. and at the Altamont Building in Syracuse Housing Authority have become beacons of the growing green infrastructure boom in Syracuse. Crew members worked with specialists to design and install rain gardens that catch stormwater runoff; this reduces the burden on our aging sewage infrastructure, protects our rivers and lakes from runoff pollution, provides habitat for wildlife and increases groundwater recharge.

Another stormwater management tool that the OEC introduced to Syracuse residents is the rain barrel. Rain barrels capture rainwater, preventing it from washing pollutants into local waterways. Water that is collected in the barrel can be used to water gardens, lawns or potted plants. Youth work with specialists to convert affordable food grade barrels into rain barrels.

With guidance from a local greenroof plant nursery, Mother Plants, and under the supervision of Cornell Cooperative Extension and Home Headquarters staff, youth helped create a greenroof at 515 Tully St. Youth made structural improvements to a storage shed so it could bear the load of this demonstration greenroof and planted greenroof trays to be attached to the roof.

OEC crew members spread the word about rain barrels and rain gardens through outreach to neighborhood residents. Youth give rain garden tours, deliver educational activities at festivals and are working to identify homeowner or property owners that would like rain barrels.

OEC’s work in green infrastructure entails the maintenance and management of various storm water facilities.  These facilities filter, store and slow stormwater in a way that integrates infiltration slope and plants.  OEC performs tasks like weeding, transplanting, removing trash and general maintenance and beautification.