Northern Research Station

Title: Brooklyn's urban forest

Author: Nowak, David J.; Crane, Daniel E.; Stevens, Jack C.; Ibarra, Myriam

Date: 2002

Source: Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-290. Newtown Square, PA: U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station 107 p.

Station ID: GTR-NE-290

Description: An assessment of trees in Brooklyn, New York, reveal that this borough has approximately 610,000 trees with canopies that cover 11.4 percent of the area. The most common trees are estimated to be tree of heaven, white mulberry, black locust, Norway maple and black cherry. Brooklyn's trees currently store approximately 172,000 metric tons of carbon with an estimated value of $3.5 million. In addition, these trees remove about 2,500 tC per year ($51,000/yr) and about 254 metric tons of air pollution per year ($1.3 million/yr). The replacement or compensatory value of Brooklyn?s trees is estimated at $679 million. Potential damage from an Asian longhorn beetle infestation is $390 million (51 percent of the population). Management strategies are suggested for maximizing air quality and carbon benefits from urban trees.

Keywords: urban forestry, carbon sequestration, global climate change, air quality, air pollution

View and Print this Publication (1228.2 KB)

Publication Notes: 

• We recommend that you also print this page and attach it to the printout of the article, to retain the full citation information.
• This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain.
• This publication may be available in hard copy. Check the Northern Research Station web site to request a printed copy of this publication.
• Our on-line publications are scanned and captured using Adobe Acrobat. During the capture process some typographical errors may occur. Please contact Sharon Hobrla, shobrla@fs.fed.us if you notice any errors which make this publication unuseable.

 Get the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat reader or Acrobat Reader for Windows with Search and Accessibility

Citation

Nowak, David J.; Crane, Daniel E.; Stevens, Jack C.; Ibarra, Myriam  2002.  Brooklyn's urban forest.   Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-290. Newtown Square, PA: U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station 107 p..