NEW YORK—Bob Beigen is a real tree lover. If you'll ask him, there is no such thing as too many trees. But trees need constant care, and that, he says, is the job of the community.
Beigen founded the Prospect Heights Street Trees Task Force, which he heads with several other devoted members. Together, they try to mobilize their community and business owners to water and care for the street trees in the neighborhood.
The Epoch Times met with Beigen and Sara Wenk, a citizen tree pruner active in the task force, in Biegen’s Prospect Heights residence. A hose from his house snaked out through his fence to water a near by street tree.
The Epoch Times: How did this start?
Wenk: I started to get obsessed with all the plastic bags that were stuck in trees. My mother got me a big tree bag grabber on an expandable pole. I started to get bags out of trees and in the process I started to see what bad shape a lot of the trees were in.
Biegen: I was interested in trees before I moved here in ‘93. I hope the task force will be a self-sustaining organization. By that I mean that I don’t have to be there, Sarah does not have to be there. There will always be someone to take on the next projects.
We are in contact with block associations, [and] with merchants’ associations. We had meetings with them, and we advised them about what we can do for them: we have citizen pruners, we have people interested in tree care, we have the tools, we can get the mulch, [and] we even have compost. We expect the bloc association or the merchants’ association to invite us to come out. The only thing we ask is that they water their trees.
If you don’t do it, no one else will. A lot of people assume that the guy down the block will do it, or the city will do it. We need to motivate people to participate—to get more people out there doing what needs to be done.
Epoch Times: Isn’t public property a responsibility of the city?
Beigen: The city may plant trees, the city will prune trees every five or six years, but that is all the city is doing. The city does not have the resources to do it themselves. The most important things are loosening up the soil, putting [in] the mulch and ensuring the trees are watered.
Epoch Times: Is the city sponsored Million Trees program working?
Biegen: It’s working, but it works a lot better if the citizens are mobilized to do their part.
Wenk: I would love the city, when they plant a tree—and they are planting a lot of trees now—to go to all the surrounding houses and give them a flyer: we just gave you a baby tree, this is how you take care of it.
Epoch Times: What do you gain from this activity?
Biegen: Self-satisfaction. It is a life-affirming thing we do. Each individual wants to affirm life, wants to sustain life. That is the beauty of what we do.
Wenk: Especially in the city, there is so much that is dirty and rocky and dead. People don’t think of trees a lot, but if the trees will be gone, people will be really sad.
Beigen founded the Prospect Heights Street Trees Task Force, which he heads with several other devoted members. Together, they try to mobilize their community and business owners to water and care for the street trees in the neighborhood.
The Epoch Times met with Beigen and Sara Wenk, a citizen tree pruner active in the task force, in Biegen’s Prospect Heights residence. A hose from his house snaked out through his fence to water a near by street tree.
The Epoch Times: How did this start?
Wenk: I started to get obsessed with all the plastic bags that were stuck in trees. My mother got me a big tree bag grabber on an expandable pole. I started to get bags out of trees and in the process I started to see what bad shape a lot of the trees were in.
Biegen: I was interested in trees before I moved here in ‘93. I hope the task force will be a self-sustaining organization. By that I mean that I don’t have to be there, Sarah does not have to be there. There will always be someone to take on the next projects.
We are in contact with block associations, [and] with merchants’ associations. We had meetings with them, and we advised them about what we can do for them: we have citizen pruners, we have people interested in tree care, we have the tools, we can get the mulch, [and] we even have compost. We expect the bloc association or the merchants’ association to invite us to come out. The only thing we ask is that they water their trees.
If you don’t do it, no one else will. A lot of people assume that the guy down the block will do it, or the city will do it. We need to motivate people to participate—to get more people out there doing what needs to be done.
Epoch Times: Isn’t public property a responsibility of the city?
Beigen: The city may plant trees, the city will prune trees every five or six years, but that is all the city is doing. The city does not have the resources to do it themselves. The most important things are loosening up the soil, putting [in] the mulch and ensuring the trees are watered.
Epoch Times: Is the city sponsored Million Trees program working?
Biegen: It’s working, but it works a lot better if the citizens are mobilized to do their part.
Wenk: I would love the city, when they plant a tree—and they are planting a lot of trees now—to go to all the surrounding houses and give them a flyer: we just gave you a baby tree, this is how you take care of it.
Epoch Times: What do you gain from this activity?
Biegen: Self-satisfaction. It is a life-affirming thing we do. Each individual wants to affirm life, wants to sustain life. That is the beauty of what we do.
Wenk: Especially in the city, there is so much that is dirty and rocky and dead. People don’t think of trees a lot, but if the trees will be gone, people will be really sad.
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