Isobel Maksoudian was one of 15 volunteers who gathered on the New Haven Green to water all 89 trees planted by the city in April. The trees are part of an initiative to plant 5,000 trees in New Haven over five years, starting in 2023.

Community Effort

Yale/Downtown Alder Elias Theodore organized the summer tree watering sessions after meeting with city Parks Director Max Webster in January. Theodore said he had been doing trash cleanups on the Green and wanted other ways for people to get involved and feel like they have a stake in the future.

Annie Mixsell, the city’s tree warden, came to the event and helped water the saplings. She said the Green has lost four elm trees to Dutch Elm disease this year already, and that the city made new plantings in April to increase resiliency and biodiversity on the Green.

The city planted many species that thrive in Maryland and North Carolina, because that’s basically New Haven’s climate right now. Planting trees that can handle the heat has become common in New Haven, Mixsell explained — biodiversity and climate considerations come first when deciding which trees to plant in a park.

Even when it rains, the trees need plenty of water. The soil on the Green has been dry, and New Haven is still in a drought, which makes weekly watering that much more important.

Future Plans

Theodore plans to invite Yale undergraduate groups and New Haven high schoolers to sign up for tree watering shifts in the fall — trees will need 25 gallons of water every week for at least the next two years.

Original reporting: New Haven Independent — read the source article.