{"id":43,"date":"2020-12-07T11:56:24","date_gmt":"2020-12-07T16:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/?page_id=43"},"modified":"2020-12-16T15:25:20","modified_gmt":"2020-12-16T20:25:20","slug":"memoirs-of-manhattan","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/memoirs-of-manhattan\/","title":{"rendered":"Memoirs of Manhattan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><div class=\"embedContent widescreen\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/embed\/GAhUDYffULI\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"text-header-sm text-header-xs\"><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New York City&#8217;s largest and oldest trees hide a vast and interesting ecological history that dates back to the Lenape people. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"text-header-sm text-header-xs\"><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Produced by Soukaina Alaoui El Hassani<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"text-header-xl\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Trees of Mannahatta: an Ecological History of New York<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"text-header-sm\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>By Soukaina Alaoui El Hassani<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wearing a navy blue workout wear, a black puffy jacket and a high, bouncy ponytail, Fordham PhD student Grace Anderson weaves her way deeper into the heart of Fort Tryon Park. Leaves hissing in the fall wind, Anderson seeks respite from the boisterous concrete jungle of New York on her daily run in the park.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-251 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.09.49-PM-min-300x166.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"690\" height=\"382\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.09.49-PM-min-300x166.jpg 300w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.09.49-PM-min-1024x566.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.09.49-PM-min-768x425.jpg 768w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.09.49-PM-min-1536x849.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.09.49-PM-min-2048x1132.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 690px) 100vw, 690px\" \/>\u201cIt\u2019s so nice to get out, breathe in fresh air and just see nature around you,\u201d said Anderson.. \u201cAll the plants and all the trees are so beautiful and necessary after being cooped up at home or in an office all day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Usually when walking along the streets of the city, New Yorkers tunnel quickly\u00a0 toward their destinations, never raising their h<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">eads to gaze at the intimidating urban canopy. Once in the heart of a park, all pretense of a destination disappears and pedestrians can finally enjoy the respite of the aimless journey of a nature stroll, swallowed by the shade of towering flora.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The same flora that once sheltered and fed the Lenape in 1609.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Framed by his laptop camera to reveal a sun-lit living room filled with wall art and potted plants, Brian Gunther, the development officer for Natural Areas Conservancy and former chief of forestry, horticulture and natural resources, outlines how many flora species survived the past 400 years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAbout 80 percent of the canopy in these natural areas are native species,\u201d said Gunther. \u201cThe same kind of species you would\u2019ve found in 1609.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New York\u2019s ecological history dates back to the 17<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> century with the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorknature.us\/lenapes\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lenape settlers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The biodiversity was lush with species that we can still see in New York ecosystems today.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><a href=\"https:\/\/welikia.org\/m-map.php\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lenape territory<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> stretched from northern New York to Delaware. The Lenape of New York were known as the Munsee, and the island of Mannahatta, now Manhattan, was a ten thousand-acre, abundant Eden of diverse flora and fauna. Native species included the American Elm, Chestnut, Hemlock and Ash trees, all species that are either extinct or endangered to New York ecological ecosystems.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cYou have another mix species of hickory and oaks and sweet gums that are native species that are still thriving,\u201dGunther says. \u201cOn the other hand the species that are in the understory who will replace the canopy are invasive species. So, it\u2019s a tale of two generations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-226 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.14.51-PM-min-300x168.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"717\" height=\"402\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.14.51-PM-min-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.14.51-PM-min-1024x573.png 1024w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.14.51-PM-min-768x430.png 768w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.14.51-PM-min-1536x860.png 1536w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.14.51-PM-min-2048x1147.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 717px) 100vw, 717px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Gunther, the main reason why the American elm, chestnut, hemlock and ash trees have ceased to thrive is due to the presence of invasive species that were not native to New York. These invasive species come in the form of seeds, bacteria, fungus and even foreign flora.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe biggest threat to New York forests is invasive plant species,\u201d Gunther says. \u201cWhen you bring a foreign species, they thrive unchecked because they don\u2019t have predators.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-250 alignright\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff;\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.07.44-PM-min-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"703\" height=\"396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.07.44-PM-min-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.07.44-PM-min-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.07.44-PM-min-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.07.44-PM-min-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.07.44-PM-min-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 703px) 100vw, 703px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the late 17<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> century, the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/8bishumanities.weebly.com\/lenape.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dutch and English colonists<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> ousted the Lenape to the west, to what is now known as Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and Indiana. While eager to settle, the new colonists didn\u2019t give much thought to the conservation of the ecological ecosystems around them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Lenape, known as the \u201cfirst conservationists,\u201d framed their beliefs around protecting and living in harmony with nature. In 2013, Principal Chief of the Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware, Dennis Choker explained to <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dnrec.delaware.gov\/Admin\/Documents\/Delaware's%20First%20Environmentalists.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Outdoor Delaware Magazine<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> what their tribe&#8217;s relationship with nature was.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOur philosophy is to take only what you need and give thanks for everything you take,\u201d\u201d said Coker. \u201cWe do not exploit resources, we use them. When you interact with your environment on a daily basis, you know you\u2019ve got to protect it because you are going to depend on it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-229 alignright\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff;\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.05.39-PM-min-300x179.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"717\" height=\"428\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.05.39-PM-min-300x179.png 300w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.05.39-PM-min-1024x611.png 1024w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.05.39-PM-min-768x458.png 768w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.05.39-PM-min-1536x917.png 1536w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.05.39-PM-min-2048x1223.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 717px) 100vw, 717px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People weren\u2019t the only thing that emigrated en masse to America in the 19th century.<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/05\/13\/arts\/design\/manhattan-virtual-tour-virus.html\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Foreign plant, fungus and animal species<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> were transported and settled in New York, unchallenged by their natural predators. These foreign species posed a threat to the native flora.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-245 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.05.50-PM-min-300x167.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"712\" height=\"397\" \/>\u201cBefore we were just covering everything in asphalt and putting in Maple trees, things we now know might not thrive in certain conditions or could be invasive,\u201d says Emily Walker, the director of outreach and programs at New Yorkers for Parks. \u201cProfessionals didn\u2019t know some of the impacts that we now know about some of these plant species.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cYou will never defeat an invasive species, whether they\u2019re plants, animals, fungus,\u201d Gunther says. \u201cBut you can manage them.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-228 alignright\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff;\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.05.11-PM-min-300x167.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"710\" height=\"395\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.05.11-PM-min-300x167.png 300w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.05.11-PM-min-1024x571.png 1024w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.05.11-PM-min-1536x857.png 1536w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.05.11-PM-min-2048x1143.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the 19<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and early 20<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> centuries ushering in an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/2012\/08\/14\/discovering-urban-biodiversity\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0age of industrialization and exponential population growth<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, New York started replacing the towering trees of New York with towering buildings. With that came habitat fragmentation and habitat loss which ultimately reduced the biodiversity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOnce the city defined its borders, it was less about habitat loss and more about fragmentation,\u201d Gunther says. \u201cPeople like Robert Moses put parkways and expressways through existing parks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Urbanization in the late 20<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> century shaved what remained of New York\u2019s wild canopy. Parks now housed both foreign and native plant species.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Washington Square Park, the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlasobscura.com\/places\/the-hangmans-elm-new-york-new-york\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hangman\u2019s Elm<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, one of the oldest trees in the city, is expected to die soon. This is because this 110-foot, 330 year-old tree has been a victim of invasive species, alongside thriving throngs of ginko trees, maples and sweet-gums.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-231 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.44.47-PM-min-300x169.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"714\" height=\"402\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.44.47-PM-min-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.44.47-PM-min-1024x577.png 1024w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.44.47-PM-min-768x433.png 768w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.44.47-PM-min-1536x866.png 1536w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.44.47-PM-min-2048x1154.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 714px) 100vw, 714px\" \/>In recent years, the New York City Parks Department has become more careful about the species they incorporate into their parks and open spaces.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe city has done a really good job in the recent years where they\u2019re making sure to add native plants, permeable surfaces and native tree species,\u201d Walker says. \u201cI think now we\u2019re acting proactively and focusing on this return to our ecological history that we weren\u2019t doing before.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, New York City natives rely heavily on parks and open spaces to get them through the anxieties of the current COVID-19 Pandemic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt [COVID-19 pandemic] has made it clearer for New Yorkers that outdoor spaces are essential for recreation,\u201d Gunther says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nycgovparks.org\/about#:~:text=About%20the%20New%20York%20City,to%20community%20gardens%20and%20Greenstreets.\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fourteen percent<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of New York City land is park land. City officials have encouraged people to seek respite in parks during the pandemic. Unfortunately, those same city officials have cut the Parks Department budget.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe don\u2019t see a lot of public funding for parks and open spaces,\u201d Walker says. \u201cThe city gives the Parks Department only 0.5 percent of the entire city budget to maintain those spaces.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In August of this year, the New York City Council decided to<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnewyork.com\/news\/coronavirus\/budget-cuts-leave-nyc-parks-dirtier-and-more-run-down-city-residents-complain\/2572329\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cut an additional 14 percent<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the Parks Department\u2019s $540 million budget due to the pandemic, despite insisting that New York City residents continue to use those spaces at their leisure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Due to this <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amny.com\/coronavirus\/city-to-slash-millions-in-budget-from-parks-department-due-to-covid-19\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">$84 million dollar budget cut <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, many park nonprofits had to shift their focus from their research and development of parks to maintenance. John Delgado, the field work supervisor for the Prospect Park Alliance, said that the role and focus of the Alliance had changed once the pandemic hit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe&#8217;ve definitely had to shift a lot of our focus from doing landscape and horticulture work and focus a lot more on basic maintenance,\u201d Delgado said. \u201cParticularly because of the city budget cuts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amid the budget cuts to parks, government officials and public health officials were pushing New Yorkers to seek respite in parks and open spaces.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-248\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.07.17-PM-min-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"711\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.07.17-PM-min-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.07.17-PM-min-1024x574.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.07.17-PM-min-768x431.jpg 768w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.07.17-PM-min-1536x861.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Screen-Shot-2020-12-16-at-1.07.17-PM-min-2048x1148.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 711px) 100vw, 711px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"margin-xl margin-md\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;To see that the Parks Department had a major budget cut where city officials and public health professionals were encouraging people to go to these parks to have safe outdoor experiences, was challenging,\u201d Walker says. \u201cWe need to change that narrative because it\u2019s not sustainable anymore. Without having parks, this already challenging time would\u2019ve been even harder.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New York City&#8217;s largest and oldest trees hide a vast and interesting ecological history that dates back to the Lenape people. Produced by Soukaina Alaoui El Hassani Trees of Mannahatta: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":335,"href":"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43\/revisions\/335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.newsdoc.org\/naturenyc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}