Century-old trees die in Harlem parks as erosion pattern emerges

NEW YORK — Manhattan community groups joined forces Tuesday evening for a public meeting, presenting their findings about the effects of climate change on the island’s parks.
Curators for the largest outdoor art exhibit in Harlem’s history have uncovered a pattern of groundcover erosion in St. Nicholas Park, along with soil compaction in Jackie Robinson Park and flooding in Morningside Park. They spent months beautifying the parks in preparation for 1,000-pound installations, but months later much of that work has been washed away, due in part to erosion accelerated by climate change.
Sandy sidewalks stir up dust down St. Nicholas Avenue, dirt dumping through grates to the train tracks below. It is not the sight Harlem Sculpture Gardens co-curator Savona Bailey-McClain expected for her exhibit.
“It impacts the sculptures, because if the land isn’t good, then the art is not going to sustain itself there,” Bailey-McClain said.
She reached out to City College’s J. Max Bond Center for Urban Futures and enlisted the help of its director, Professor Shawn Rickenbacker, who pointed out the valleys made by rainwater in St. Nicholas Park. He said soil erosion is a natural process, but parks like these rely on manmade groundcover netting intended to help the soil find a foothold. That netting is now exposed in several spots where the soil is washing away. Rickenbacker said he has also seen trees dying recently after their roots were exposed.
“That certainly in part that was due to the contributions of the erosion, and unfortunately a loss of 100-year-old trees,” Rickenbacker explained.
Bolstering the canopy can make a major impact on Harlem’s heat vulnerability index, which is among the highest in the city. Volunteer teams with Brotherhood Sister Sol had built up the bases of the curbside trees with compost from city bins, but the beds are now back to their basic brush. While it is frustrating, the volunteers understand the Parks Department cannot always keep up with maintenance.
“They cover a lot of land,” admitted Gabriel-Jose Maldonado, BroSis environmental program horticulturist. “They even get help from Trees New York, so how are we better working together to really address these issues so that we don’t feel neglected here in Harlem?”
Organizers now aim to launch programs to train tree trimmers and horticulturists who can more closely care for their home parks in Harlem.
To tune in to a live stream of Tuesday night’s public meeting with Manhattan Neighborhood Network, click here.
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