Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson sent a letter Friday to Mayor Eric Adams urging him to fully fund the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation in the 2026 budget and plant more trees.
She is calling for 1% of the city budget to be put aside for parks in the upcoming fiscal year, with a significant amount being dedicated to planting trees—equitably—in the Bronx and across the city. She seeks more trees to increase the city’s canopy, which reduces dangerous heat generated in urban areas.
Gibson said the urgency to increase the city’s tree canopy coverage was at “an all-time high,” particularly in minority neighborhoods. She emphasized that Black New Yorkers are at a disproportionate risk to die of heat-related illness, citing New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene data.
“We must do all we can to protect the health and safety of our residents, especially Black and Brown residents in neighborhoods where asthma and diabetes rates are among the highest nationally,” Gibson said in the letter.
The letter illustrated these disparities, drawing attention to areas in the borough that are especially at risk. Even though the Bronx has the largest proportion of parkland in the city, its tree canopy is not distributed evenly across the borough.
Community Boards 1 – 6 in the South Bronx are especially hot and barren with Community Board 1 having only about 14% canopy coverage and Community Board 2 having less than 8%, among the lowest coverage areas in the city and much lower that the 22% average across the five boroughs. The NYC interactive Heat Vulnerability Index showed that neighborhoods within South Bronx Community Boards ranked the most at risk for heat-related deaths.
Gibson’s letter echoed calls from Bronx community organizations back in September who rallied for more trees. They held a press conference on the waterfront in Mott Haven where they planted a tree to call attention to poor canopy coverage in the South Bronx and its negative impact on the health of residents.
The Adams administration committed to increasing the city’s canopy coverage – which is currently around 22% – up to 30% and has increased tree plantings the last three years with over 15,000 planted in fiscal year 2024. However, the parks budget was cut in the most recent year.
Gibson wants the department to be fully funded and the administration to double down on its effort to provide a green canopy in the Bronx and elsewhere in order to reduce temperatures in the hottest neighborhoods.
Increasing tree coverage in urban areas is linked to reducing surface temperatures, improved air and water quality, mental health benefits, and biodiversity benefits, according to studies published by the National Institutes for Health.
To see how tree coverage impacts Bronx neighborhoods, check out the city’s interactive tree map here.
