Georgia Silvera Seamans: nature in the center of NYC

Georgia Silvera Seamans, an urban forester, and Giulia Di Vincenzo, a high school student, explore the treescape of Washington Square Park, a public park in New York City that has been famous as a cultural center and gathering place for over a century.

Georgia gives Giulia a tour of the trees, giving insights on ecological and social benefits of nature in cities.

For this episode, video clips for the following trees are available at the link below:

Ginkgo Osage, Northern Catalpa, Bald Cypress, Willow Oak, American Sweetgum

https://newyork.thecityatlas.org/people/georgia-silvera-seamans/

Georgia writes and teaches in New York City, and her work can be seen here:

https://www.wspecoprojects.org/

https://www.georgiasilveraseamans.com/

“I write stories about people’s relationships with plants and narratives that connect people to trees.”

Transcript

Georgia Silvera Seamans  00:04

To make a connection with nature, you can literally do it where you live on your block, you don’t have to go someplace far away. There is enough nature in New York City right now for you to start making that connection. 

So Tree Wonder is this collaboration between me and Kristen Jones, who’s a visual artist, and the focus of Tree Wonder is on this tree alone, this English elm. The tree has been here for a really long time, certainly longer than any of us in the city. And I think that’s important to recognize, because the tree has been here for the very kind of everyday things that have happened and the historic things that happened. And while we can’t by looking at the outside of the tree necessarily sort of read that history, I think the tree is here to remind us that our time here as human people is so short in comparison to ecological time.

Georgia Silvera Seamans  01:31

So, how did I decide to get into…

Giulia Di Vincenzo  01:34

Like ecology and work in the park, especially this park,

Georgia Silvera Seamans  01:38

Okay, um, so let’s see, where should I start? Um, I guess I’ve always been connected to trees growing up. I played with trees. I ate from trees. So it’s always been a part of my life. Though, I don’t think I was aware that I was of this like connection to trees. I just sort of took them for granted because they were always around me. And then after I got my master’s degree, I spent a summer as a community forester in New Haven. I worked for a nonprofit called Urban Resources Initiative, and the goal of that program is to provide resources and funding for community groups who want to green their neighborhoods, and that could range from planting trees in the sidewalk to actually transforming lots warehouses used to be into a green space or a park space. So I did that that summer, and I can say that that experience set me on my path. And so my primary interest is in urban forestry, and specifically the relationship that people have with trees in cities. 

I moved back to New York in 2009 and I live in the neighborhood and so and I mean, I knew the park from when I was younger, and it was great that I now lived in the neighborhood where the park is, and I first started getting interested in the park, just because of all the trees that are here, lots of different kinds of species, different ages, and I thought it would be really great to have an online map that showed where all the trees are, because at that time, there wasn’t an online map. And now, obviously the Parks Department [now] has a map of all the street trees and all the trees and landscape parks. But in 2013 when we were building that map, that wasn’t the case. And so that was really what drew me to this park, were the trees.

Giulia Di Vincenzo  04:08

Has the online map brought a lot of new participants into the Tree Wonder experience and just generally come to appreciate the trees in this type of area more?

Georgia Silvera Seamans  04:19

Sure. So that online map, which still exists, but I think now we always direct people to go to the city’s map, and that map actually exists separately from Tree Wonder. So Tree Wonder is this collaboration between me and Kristen Jones, who’s a visual artist, and the focus of Tree Wonder is on this tree alone, this English elm. And Tree Wonder is actually part of a larger project that Kristin has called Behold. But so she and I just work exclusively on Tree Wonder, with the focus on this tree. And we really want people to sort of stop and notice this tree. We do hope that they’ll stop notice and also draw. And so the program is both an observation program and a drawing program that is offered on Sundays in the fall and Sundays in the spring. And this is our third year of offering the program. And like you said when we arrived at this spot that you hadn’t noticed this tree before. There are a fair number of people who say, Oh, I walk through this park. I live in this neighborhood, and I never noticed this tree before. Or even people literally walking by the tree before we stopped to talk to them, or before they stopped to talk to us, we’ll say, Oh, I didn’t notice the tree as I was walking into the park. And then, you know, you sort of have to step back because you need, like, a certain amount of distance to take in the height of the tree. So I mean both the size of the trunk and how tall it is, the way that the branches are against the sky, sort of their shape. I think it is a tree that inspires awe. So people are always really sort of delighted to be asked to have been asked to notice the tree.

Giulia Di Vincenzo  06:43

What do you think like, the connection between art and climate education is? And how can you know the drawing experience kind of helps people become more, you know, appreciative of trees like this. And also, how do you think the tie between like the past? Obviously, since this tree is so old, connects to like people who are living in the present and don’t really have that, like generational tie to the land like that?

Georgia Silvera Seamans  07:06

I think of this tree as a witness tree. And witness trees are a formal term used by, I think it’s the US Forest Service to talk about very particular trees that were present during historically significant events, or are present on historically significant places. And the Parks Department estimates that this tree is at least 300 years old, and this park is a very significant park in the history of the city and in the history of this neighborhood. So I think of this tree as witness and as a witness tree. And if the tree is 300 years old, it’s been here for a really long time, certainly longer than any of us in the city. And I think that’s important to recognize, because the tree has been here for the very kind of everyday things that have happened and the historic things that have happened. And while we can’t by looking at the outside of the tree, necessarily sort of read that history. I think the tree is here to remind us that our time here as human people is so short in comparison to ecological time. You know, eventually the tree will decline and die, but even so, we’ll have lived so much longer than any of us will ever live. I mean, you know, they say that an oak tree you can divide, and this is an elm tree, an English elm, but people talk about oak trees as having their lives divided into three. The first 300 years, they’re sort of growing, reaching maturity. The second 300 years, that’s when they’re very mature. And then the last 300 years is like a time where they’re declining and dying. And so the fact that there can be a genus of trees that can survive 900 years, you know, I think that just points to the fact that there’s this incredible life around us, and we’re only here a short part of that time, and we can’t know it all, and paying attention and stewarding organisms like trees is really important. 

Trees also sort of hold within them a lot of genetic diversity. So if we’re just thinking of this English elm right here, this elm has survived, has thrived in this location for 300 years, so has had to face drought, years of rain, years of higher than normal temperatures, cold temperatures, the micro climate around it has changed as New York became New York City, and so with it holds within it clues to how to survive our changing climate. And I think when we decide that we can simply remove a tree and replace it, we’re not recognizing all of that information that we’re losing that you can’t simply replace by planting a new tree. 

Giulia Di Vincenzo  11:03

Do you know if there are any planting initiatives to create? I know because of, you know, forest fires, things like that, that are happening in Prospect Park, that a lot of the nature around us is slowly degrading and becoming less and less available to the public, and also less and less kept and so do you know if there are any initiatives to kind of replace, and, you know, regrow ecological environments such as this one, which has, you know, flourished so beautifully.

Georgia Silvera Seamans  11:33

So I think I’ll start off by saying the New York City Parks Department, that agency is in charge of parks, street trees in the city. So they manage 14% of the land area in New York City. Their annual budget is 0.5% of the city’s total budget. So they that agency has the responsibility for so much land that’s publicly accessible, and they are grossly underfunded, and you definitely need money to pay employees to not just maintain, but to actually steward so as it feels like maintenance is like the, I don’t know that’s like the baseline, but you want, you need more resources in order for places to actually thrive long term, and the agency that’s responsible for keeping our green spaces healthy and thriving are not being funded. That said there were a handful of initiatives by the federal government. Through the Inflation Reduction Act, that has provided a lot of money to states and municipalities for urban forestry related projects. Funding was given to an organization in the Bronx and to organizations in Southeast Queens for urban forestry work. That means both planting and long term maintenance. The city has to be really creative with the money that, or I should say, the parks department has to be really creative with the budget that it has, and I think the agency is doing what it can with the resources that are given to it through the city budget.

Giulia Di Vincenzo  13:48

I also read some of your reports that you posted on the website. So cool. So who’s the target audience for those reports? And like, what’s your approach to changing people’s mindsets? About like the ecology parts like this, which sometimes aren’t as appreciated as fully as they should be, through education and things like that. 

Georgia Silvera Seamans  14:10

We write those reports, and the last several have actually been written by my colleague, Loyan Beausoleil, and we have a permit to conduct the wildlife surveys and the phenology monitoring, and as a requirement of that permit we write the reports. And so I would say one of the audiences is the permitting agency within the Parks Department. The reports are also shared with the administrator of the park, who is a Parks Department employee. We share the report with people on our mailing list, and then we use information within the report when we talk to people who participate in the event. 

So a pretty diverse range of audiences. We have tried to engage with local elected officials, that has been less successful, but that’s definitely something that we will keep trying to do in Washington Square Park. I mean, it’s both a neighborhood park and a tourist destination. And I know that a lot of people come to the park and they come to see the arch, and they come to see the fountain, especially when it’s on. I come to the park not for those two things.

And the programs that we offer are really around showcasing the trees and the bird life in the park. And I would dare say that if you woke up tomorrow and you came to Washington Square Park and there were no trees and no birds, it would be a radically different park. It would be a square that was totally impervious with an arch and a fountain. And I’m not sure how attractive that would be to people anymore. I think people sort of subconsciously are discounting the impacts of the trees and wildlife in the park to their experience of the park. 

Giulia Di Vincenzo  16:44

Could you talk a bit more about the trees that are found in the park and all their different species that you studied and reported about?

Georgia Silvera Seamans  16:51

Sure, I think right now, there are a total of 365 individual trees, and the trees in the park are a mix of broad leaf trees and trees with needle leaves. There are trees that are deciduous, and then there are trees that are evergreen. We have trees with needle-like leaves that are deciduous. So we have dawn redwood and bald cypress, both of which are conifers, but they do lose their leaves in the fall.

Of course we have the English elm. There are also American elm in the park, behind us. There are these two groves of deodar cedars, which are true cedars. 

In addition to American and English elm, we also have Siberian elm and Chinese Elm. We have American sweet gum, which is a native species. We have two tulip trees, and the tulip tree is my favorite tree species. We have a variety of oaks. 

And actually one of the primary plant communities that used to be on this land that’s now Washington Square Park was northern red oak and tulip tree forest. So we do have red oaks in the park, obviously planted by people. 

There are not any remnant tree species from on this land, from prior to with the exception of the English elm that were here before the park was designated a park. There are American sycamore in addition to London plane trees. There are ginkgos. There are two different types of cherries, Prunus serrulata, and then there’s Prunus speciosa, which is Oshima cherry, there are hawthorns, there are crab apples, there are star magnolia, saucer magnolia, Styphnolobium japonicum, which is Japanese pagoda tree, golden rain tree, honey locust, white ash and green ash. Flowering dogwood, I’m just sort of like moving through the park. 

There’s eastern redbud. There are white oaks and swamp white oaks. There are zelkova. And I’m probably, there’s dogwood, northern catalpa, there are crepe myrtles. Hmm, I know I’m, I’m definitely still missing some, but yeah, there’s some. There’s both diversity in terms of genus, and then diversity just in terms of whether a tree is a gymnosperm or an angiosperm, though, there are definitely many more flowering trees in here than trees that don’t produce true flowers. 

Giulia Di Vincenzo  20:10

What’s the importance of having such a wide diversity of trees in such a small area?

Georgia Silvera Seamans  20:15

Yeah, so the park is 9.75 acres, and so 365 individual trees. Diversity in an ecosystem is really important, because diversity ensures resilience. A classic example of what can happen if you don’t have diversity would be to think of the ways in which cities used to plant street trees, for example, in mono cultures, and that has proven to be devastating, especially when there are pests and diseases. 

So with Dutch elm disease, for towns and cities that had large populations of American elms, they lost a lot of their tree canopy, because if your tree canopy is predominantly a species that’s under attack by a pest or disease, then you’re likely to lose a large percent of your canopy. The same thing happened with emerald ash borer and ash trees. There was Asian Long Horn beetle, and maples were a primary target of Asian Long Horn beetles. We don’t have any American beeches in the park, but now there is beach leaf disease, which is really decimating beeches throughout the Northeast. So in that sense, you know genus diversity and species diversity is really important as a counter to pest and disease invasion. So that’s just one kind of diversity. 

Genetic diversity is another really important aspect of biological diversity. It’s important to have trees, plants that have evolved in place, because they contain information about how to survive in that place. And so in order to have an environment that can, I suppose, face different kinds of conditions and sort of survive beyond when those conditions end, diversity plays a really big role in that, and I would also like to add that it’s not just about plant diversity, but plant support, or I should say trees, because we’re really focusing on trees. Trees support other plants. They support fungi, they support a whole host of non-human animals, from bees and butterflies to birds and everything in between and beyond, and each of those other species rely either exclusively on one type of species or a whole set of species. So it’s really important to have the required diversity to support the other aspects of nature that are not just trees and plants. 

Giulia Di Vincenzo  23:46

I’d like to go back to what you said about how, like, a tree contains basically, like the instruction guide, instruction manual for like, how to survive in an area of land where they have, like, been grown for so many years. And how would, how does that play a role? As we see in Prospect Park, trees just caught on fire the other day because of drought. And what does it mean for when those plants and trees eventually either burned down or like, are removed. What does that mean for the rest of the ecosystem, and how can they replenish those environments?

Georgia Silvera Seamans  24:19

Yeah, that fire in Prospect Park was a two acre burn. And it’s even really sort of strange to talk about, like a two acre burn in the middle of a city. And I think that points to the fact that there is nature in New York City, and we are, you know, the city is under a drought warning, or is it a watch? I forget, we’re sort of at the lowest level of a drought situation. And I think the city has known it didn’t rain for 29 days in October, and that drought warning came last week. So drought watch thanks. The drought watch came last week. 

So we’re kind of, you know, into November, and I don’t know that when the drought watch came, I don’t think everyone was made aware of that drought watch. And so I think that fire, as unfortunate as it was, I think really brought this issue to most, if not all, New Yorkers, and I think to lose trees in a park is always really sad, both because you’re losing life, but you’re also losing critical parts of your ecosystem, that and you know, I don’t live in Brooklyn, and I don’t spend a lot of time in Prospect Park, so I don’t know the specific area of Prospect Park that was burned, but I’m assuming it was an area that was a woodland, and so there might be more regeneration that’s supported there than in a park like Washington Square Park, where trees aren’t allowed to regenerate. 

So all the trees that exist in here, all the plants, at least, all the woody plants, were all planted purposefully, whereas in a woodland situation like you might find in Prospect Park, there are shrubs and trees that regenerate on their own, either through suckering or sprouting or through the seed bed that’s in the forest. I don’t know if any of those trees survived, but certainly being able to survive a fire is something that a tree has gone through, there will be memory, and it’s one of that tree. Fires are not always devastating. It could be that there are seeds in that seed bed below, within the soil that will sprout in response to that fire. That fire will create conditions for new growth.

Giulia Di Vincenzo  27:15

Kind of talking about how locally based these initiatives are. How would you say that, given the election, things like that, that, like this kind of locally grown initiative and project would garner more supporters and expand to be sort of a haven for environmentally conscious people, especially given that the government isn’t as supportive of their efforts anymore, or predicted to be in the near future.

Georgia Silvera Seamans  27:51

So environmental action usually happens at a lot of different levels, right? You can, you know, there’s that saying, think globally, act locally. And I think that’s, you know, just sort of always true. I feel like every global action is local, because you are, you are advocating in the place that you live, which is local and collectively, that can be seen as a global movement, even when we think of things that might be global to us, like the deforestation of parts of the Amazon. 

The Amazon is home for lots of people, and you know for them that is local advocacy and local action, with the caveat that what happens in the Amazon has global implications, certainly more so than maybe what happens in Washington Square Park. 

But that’s not to say that local action here isn’t important, you know, there’s also another saying that talks about you will only advocate for what you know, and part of the work that we try to do is to highlight for folks that the trees and birds and other life in the park are important parts of the park and are important to our life as people in the city, and while we might in the next four years, not have a president that supports action on climate change or action on biodiversity loss, our hands aren’t tied. New Yorkers have been doing this work for a very long time and I think, regardless of who is the president, will continue to do that work, though it will be harder. I don’t think that people will necessarily give up their advocacy work, their volunteer work, or their education work. We know that it is important to have green spaces in our city. 

You know, coming out of, well, Covid is still here, but in 2020, and 2021, I think when New Yorkers really more than ever or more, New Yorkers more than ever realized how integral green spaces are to the way we live in the city. That’s a really recent memory, and I don’t think that the presence of a president who might not hold those same views will deter New Yorkers from continuing to advocate for green spaces.

Giulia Di Vincenzo  31:12

How can New Yorkers become more involved in their communities?

Georgia Silvera Seamans  31:16

Oh my gosh, there are so many ways. I mean, you can certainly just do it on your own. You know, you can order a trash picker online, or go to your hardware store, and every time you go to the park, you bring your trash picker and a garbage bag, and you pick up litter as you go along, if you want to do something that’s just you. 

Parks have volunteer groups. You could get your friends to do it with you. You don’t need permission. You can become involved with your community board, where some local decisions get made about what’s happening in your neighborhood. You can reach out to your council member. You can call, write, visit them at their offices. You could get involved going up the chain with your state elected officials, also your senator and House of Representatives. There are a lot of environmental nonprofits in New York City that are incredibly active, both at the local level, like neighborhood, borough and citywide. So I would say there are many different channels and a diversity of ways to get involved in New York City. 

Giulia Di Vincenzo  32:36

How can they learn more about forests and trees and things like that, that I know you majored in, but a lot of people, if they want to learn on a more lower level and become more aware of their environment and their surroundings. How would they go about doing that?

Georgia Silvera Seamans  32:54

I would say, pick, you know, go to your local park and choose a tree in your local park that speaks to you. And actually, the tree doesn’t even have to be in your local park. The tree could be on the block in front of your apartment, and use the city’s tree map to learn the name of your tree, so the scientific binomial and the common name, and then once you have that information, you can certainly search for more information about that species online. You can also go to your library. There are a couple of nonprofits in the city that are focused on trees, so you could volunteer with them, or take classes with them. If you’re interested in birds, there’s New York City Bird Alliance. There are also birding groups in Queens and in Brooklyn and in the Bronx. There’s the Feminist Bird Club. If you’re interested in shore birds, there’s the American Littoral Society. If you’re interested in insects, there’s the New York City Pollinator Working Group. There’s a New York City mycology group, if you’re interested in fungi. I think whatever organism outside of people in nature that you’re interested in, there’s probably an organized group in New York City that shares your interest. 

Giulia Di Vincenzo  34:35

Can you talk more, a little bit more about birding and how that kind of plays a role in the little environmental ecology of parks and the city, especially since we don’t really think about them that often, all I know is that people will like, often complain about pigeons, and occasionally we’ll see like this rare like seagull flying over somewhere. But how does, how do all these different types of birds help further grow our environmental communities? 

Georgia Silvera Seamans  34:57

Pigeons are so cool. I know they got a bad rap, but pigeons are incredible, and humans have relied on pigeons for a lot of our history, and that’s why they’re so closely associated with us in cities. New York City is actually a really great place to see lots of different kinds of birds. New York City sits right on the Atlantic flyway, which is one of the major flyways that runs through North America that birds migrate annually, spring and fall, from the northern parts of their territory to the southern parts of their territory. 

I think in Prospect Park you can see up to 200, at least 250 species of birds have been observed in Prospect Park. In Washington Square Park, I think it’s 119, 120. So 9.75 acres compared to hundreds of acres.

You’re not only seeing birds inland, but there are lots of shore birds. Certainly there are seagulls, but there are piping plovers, there are terns, there are herons. I mean, the diversity of birds across the city is really phenomenal, and birds are here during migration season. They’re stopping in the city to rest and to refuel, either as they migrate north or they migrate south. 

You do have species of birds that actually breed in New York City, so they’re courting and mating and nesting and then rearing young. And all of this is happening because of the presence of lots of different types of vegetation, a lot of native species of trees and shrubs and herbaceous perennials. There are wetlands in New York City. There are old growth forests. We have shores, we have islands. I mean, the city is just a rich place in terms of the non-human nature that’s here, and you can certainly start with pigeons. I mean, it’s really easy to get to know birds by starting with the birds that are most accessible to you, and for most New Yorkers, that’s a pigeon or a house sparrow or a starling. 

If you’re in Manhattan, it might be the red tail hawk, because this borough has typically had a lot of nesting pairs of red tailed hawks in the spring and the fall. There are so many warblers that come through the city, and in some parks, you can literally see them on the ground in front of you. In some parks, you might need a pair of binoculars to see them, but there are so many different groups and organizations that offer beginner birding classes online, talks and outings, and so if that’s your interest, there is a wealth of resources in the city. 

I love trees and I love birds. And while New York is a great place for nature, it could be an even better place to support nature, but that does take resources. And by resources, I do mean money. The city needs to be funding its Park Agency, and that shouldn’t even be something that we should have to advocate for that just feels like a necessity in a city like New York, where most people’s exposure to green is a public landscape.

Giulia Di Vincenzo  39:07

What would you say about I know a lot, a lot of green spaces have been associated with, like increasing mental health and things like that, because just being exposed to nature can be so relaxing and so grounding. How would you say that, you know, the loss of green spaces, or even, like, the growth of green spaces is, you know, connected to people’s, you know, mental consciousness and things like that, and just generally, like how, just if you could speak more on the importance of, you know, green spaces, not only to ecology, but just to the health of ourselves.

Georgia Silvera Seamans  39:49

There’s so much research that supports what people intuitively know, that you know, spending time outside where you can see other living beings is really great for your mental health. It’s really great for you. Cognitively, it’s great for you physically. I mean, thinking about this really famous research paper from the 80s that showed that if you are recovering from surgery in a hospital and you have a window in your room with a view of trees versus no view or a view of a brick wall, your recovery time is so much faster if your view is onto trees, and that was in the early 80s and decades since then, research has only produced results that confirm that result from the 1980s it’s not just about sort of the view out your window, but It’s literally about being outside amongst trees and other kinds of nature. 

The scent of trees, our bodies respond to that. Bird song, a native bird song, our bodies respond to that, and these responses are positive and helpful physiologically for young people, sort of the ability to focus in school is greatly improved as students have access to green play yards, both children and adults often perform better on task after exposure to green space, your literally the like way your heart and other organs function. Improve functions when you’re exposed to green space, people prefer to recreate in places that are greener than not. People socialize better in places that are green versus not. And so this is not something that’s anecdotal, it’s something that is backed by science, and science is real and is not fake news, and we know this to be true. And while there might be calls for more studies, I think there is plenty of evidence that confirms this, and even if there wasn’t scientific evidence, I think we know this as people to be true, that we feel really good when we’re outside in nature. 

Giulia Di Vincenzo  43:03

How do you think people can become community leaders, such as yourselves, like within their own communities, and kind of recreate the practices that you’ve so wonderfully like integrated into Washington Square Park, in their own parks, in their own schools and things like that.

Georgia Silvera Seamans  43:18

I think there are New Yorkers who are doing this kind of work, and I don’t think that I know that there are a lot of coalitions where different individuals and small groups and larger nonprofits are sort of actively talking with each other and sharing what they do. So like with lots of really good things in life, not everyone has access to good things. We can talk about environmental justice and environmental inequity. In New York City, there are neighborhoods where you have to walk farther than 10 minutes to get to a park, and this is a situation where data really matters. The data shows us that if you live in a community that’s predominantly low income, or you live in a community where residents are from historically marginalized social groups, your neighborhood is hotter because it has fewer trees and less tree canopy. You might have smaller parks. Your parks might not be as well maintained. And this is definitely not anecdotal. It is shown in the data, and it is not something that’s specific to New York City. You can look across the country at data that shows this to be the case the majority of the time. 

That said, people in neighborhoods across New York City are leading the charge. Individuals are advocating for street trees, parks, natural areas, green school yards, you name it. There are folks during the work and frankly, folks who have been doing this work for an incredibly long time, much longer than green space was fashionable.