ReTree Schenectady

Mission Statement

ReTree Schenectady is a non-profit organization dedicated to the planting, care, and conservation of current and future generations of trees in the City of Schenectady. Our goals are achieved by fostering community involvement through education and collaboration with local organizations and businesses.

Neighborhood Tree Project

Neighborhood Tree Project involves planting trees on thoroughfares, in parks, and in neighborhoods with the assistance of neighborhood residents and other community volunteers. On planting days, City staff deliver trees and mulch to the planting sites and ReTree Schenectady planting coordinators demonstrate and then supervise proper tree planting technique. Neighborhood residents and other community volunteers plant the trees. Tree recipients are shown how to maintain the trees. ReTree Schenectady tracks viability of the trees through the growing season and beyond.

Funding

ReTree Schenectady is supported by the City of Schenectady, The National Grid program is "10,000 Trees and Growing, urban and community forestry grants from NYSDEC, and private donations. ReTree Schenectady is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization run entirely by volunteers. Donations are tax-deductible and can be sent to:

ReTree Schenectady
1086 Morningside Avenue
Schenectady, NY 12309

Volunteer Opportunities

Potential tree planters and board members are welcome to contact us for more information.

If You Want a Tree

Contact us for more information. We’ll assess your site and work you into our plans. Tree recipients are expected to assist on planting day with digging and/or watering, water trees regularly through the growing season, maintain mulch, and protect trees from injury. We encourage you to help organize a block planting and get your neighbors involved.

Recommended Tree Species

ReTree Schenectady has been planting trees in Schenectady since 1999 and has identified numerous species that can be reliably planted in the city. The trees are also recommended by the Urban Horticulture Institute at Cornell University for planting in urban environments. ReTree Schenectady is committed to increasing the diversity of trees in the urban forest and to using native trees, when appropriate and available. The standard size for bare-root planting is 1 ¾” caliper, although occasionally 1 ½” or 2” caliper trees are planted.

For underwire situations, trees of mature size less than 30 feet are planted. These shorter trees include:

• Acer campestre (hedge maple)
• Acer truncatum (shantung maple)
• Amelanchier sp. (service-berry)
• Carpinus caroliniana (American hornbeam)
• Cercis canadensis (eastern red bud)
• Crataegus sp. (hawthorn)
• Prunus ‘Accolade’ (flowering cherry)
• Prunus virginiana ‘Canada Red’ (Canada Red chokecherry)

Larger trees are planted where utility wires are not present and are selected based on amount of space available as well as aesthetics. These larger trees include:

• Acer rubrum (red maple)
• Cercidiphyllum japonicum (Katsura tree)
• Gingko biloba (gingko)
• Gleditsia triacanthos var. inermis (honey locust)
• Metasequoia glyptostroboides (Dawn redwood)
• Nyssa sylvatica (blackgum)
• Platanus x acerifolia (London planetree)
• Pyrus calleryana (flowering pear)
• Quercus rubra (Northern red oak)
• Tilia cordata (little-leaf linden)
• Tilia x euchlora (Crimean linden)
• Ulmus x sp. (elm hybrids)
• Zelkova serrata (Japanese zelkova)
Schenectady has an abundance of maples (silver and Norway, in particular) so we try to minimize maple planting. Green and white ashes have excellent survival rates; however, with the arrival of the emerald ash borer, ReTree Schenectady no longer plants ash trees.

Tree Maintenance

Bare-root trees have many advantages (i.e., low cost, wider range of available species, ease in planting) but one major short-term disadvantage. They are susceptible to drought. Short-term maintenance activities therefore involve providing a gator to each “tree owner” to ensure that trees are watered sufficiently in their first season (and, in some cases, their second season) after planting, training owners on use of the gator, and checking up on tree status through the season to ensure that watering is occurring. Gators are sturdy nylon bags that are placed around the base of the tree, filled with water. They supply 20 gallons of water per tree over a several hour period, thereby ensuring deep infiltration.

Planting and watering through the first season are only the first steps towards ensuring longevity of the urban forest. Maintenance is an ongoing obligation that requires a well-defined plan for long-term success. Long-term maintenance primarily involves pruning. The bare-root trees are relatively small and require “limbing up” or “raising” of the branches and, in some cases, training (e.g., selection of main leader, thinning) within 3-5 years of planting. ReTree Schenectady volunteers visit each tree within three years of planting to assess the need for pruning, and to implement pruning, if required.

ReTree Schenectady relies on technical advice on tree planting and maintenance from the local Cornell Cooperative Extension agent, the Urban Horticulture Institute at Cornell University (where bare-root tree planting in urban environments was developed and refined), and the local urban forester from New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.