Last month, you may recall, at least nine beautiful blooming cherry trees were chopped down outside Queens Borough Hall in Kew Gardens. Blogger Geoffrey Croft was outraged to learn, at first, that the trees were killed to make way for a "staging area," for construction of a new $17 million atrium on the property. But the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) told us, "While preparing for the Queens Borough Hall project, we found that the cherry trees were diseased and needed to be removed." Now, however, Croft has learned that most, if not all, of the trees were healthy. more ›

[Update Below] This week, New York City is committing mass arborcide in the name of public safety. Since Monday at least 100 trees in Isham and Inwood Hill Parks have been cut down, and more than 200 have been heavily pruned, in an attempt to make the areas safer. more ›

Arborcide! Not content with the steady stream of stabbing and shooting opportunities the city provides so many of its common criminals, someone has taken to destroying 17 trees in Inwood Hill Park with a machete and possibly an ax as well. Parks Department Commissioner Adrian Benepe said: “A methodical serial attack just to kill trees. It’s sad.” While cedars were the primary target of previous attacks in 2006 and 2008, the current crop of victims are tulip trees, pines, sugar maples and hackberries. Local residents were organizing a volunteer patrol and there is a $2,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, which could land someone in jail for up to a year with a $15,000 fine. Benepe told the Times that the tulip trees were just planted in the last 10 years near a spot once occupied by a a 280-year old tulip tree that died in 1938. more ›

NYC Parks & Recreation is offering a $500 reward to find out who wantonly chopped down a grove of Eastern Red Cedar trees in Inwood Hill Park. The trees were planted in 1996 and were thriving, until visitors to the park discovered that 35 of the Red Cedars had been hacked to death with something like an ax. Surrounding species of trees were left unharmed. Someone out there has a serious problem with Red Cedars. In November 2006, park officials found 28 similarly chopped Red Cedars in a separate section of the park. more ›