By: Emily Murphy

The trees of New York City, like New Yorkers themselves, are a truly diverse and resilient bunch. Over 160 different species call this city home, some upwards of four centuries old. Benjamin Swett, a veteran arborist and photographer of the city’s urban forest, believes it is about time New Yorkers start respecting their elders.

In an exhibit titled “New York City of Trees,” Swett displays photographs of 28 trees pulled from the pages of his book of the same name, released early this March.The exhibit, which was open to the public free of charge from March 7 to April 26 (Arbor Day), was hung in Central Park’s Arsenal Gallery, located a floor above the Parks Department offices where he worked for 13 years before focusing his career on studying trees from a more artistic point of view.

Swett’s work looks at trees from a unique perspective. “It is common to talk about how trees improve living conditions in cities by filtering and cooling the air, absorbing excess rainwater, and making neighborhoods more attractive, but little has been said about the equally important role of trees as storehouses of a city’s past,” Swett writes in the introduction of his book.

“The trees have a place in the city that is larger than can be physically seen or documented,” Swett reflects. “A tree comes to have a great deal of meaning for many people, and one day its gone and its like a piece of their lives has been taken away.”

This feeling of loss is beautifully captured in Swett’s series of photographs he calls “The Five Seasons of a Callery Pear.” The tree majestically epitomizes the four seasons, enduring the bitter winter and flourishing with pale pink blossoms in the spring, conjuring up emotions familiar to any New Yorker. The last photo, however, shows the Chelsea lot where the tree once stood, now void of any life.

“You can’t really mourn a tree, you just need to plant a new one,” he explained in a recent interview. “But it still hurts.”

Our city was built on top of a forest of natural giants that have witnessed the comings and goings of generations. For the trees still standing, Swett encourages others to find out what knowledge may be stored in them– or on them.

In his book, Swett also introduces readers to a European beech located in Raoul Wallenberg Forest in Riverdale whose trunk is spray painted with the face of a cat. While he admits the vandalism is a rather crude reference to the area’s longtime feral cat problem, he also notes its aptness, as the English word “book” derives from boc, the Anglo-Saxon for “beech.”

“The use of spray paint seems somewhat sad,” he reflects, “yet it maintains this history of beeches as transmitters of lore.”

Just like this tree, Swett is a storyteller. His story, however, is not one that has a beginning, middle and end, but one that is a jigsaw puzzle of memories spanning centuries that he stitches together to tell a tale of New York City’s oldest residents.

His exhibition is sponsored by MillionTreesNYC, a joint initiative between the New York City Parks Department and the non-profit New York Restoration Project. Launched in October 2007, MillionTreesNYC’s mission is to educate New Yorkers about their green neighbors while inspiring them to plant and care for one million new trees by 2017.

Bearing the slogan, “A green present means a greener future,” the initiative is an integral part of Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030 sustainability project which is comprised of efforts aimed at accommodating the city’s expected population growth.

“We hope to make this New York City’s Arborial Spring,” Swett said at the exhibit’s opening. This season has offered many opportunities for New Yorkers to get involved in the movement, especially in the month of April, which was designated MillionTreesNYC Month.

New Yorkers were invited to attend a series of lectures led by esteemed tree experts or get active by going on various bicycle tree tours of the city led by Swett. “TreeLC Workshops,” which teach stewards how to care for trees in their own communities, and volunteer planting days allowed New Yorkers to get their hands dirty for a good cause, strengthening the roots of both communities and forests.

“We hope to create an emotional connection between New Yorkers and the trees that inspire and sustain them,” said Andrew Newman, Program Manager of MillionTreesNYC. The program is already responsible for over 680,000 new trees throughout the parks and streets of New York City’s five boroughs and Newman expects that 20,000 of those were planted at MillionTreesNYC’s April 27-28 volunteer planting event alone.

In such a fast-paced, consumer-driven city, it is no wonder that its foliage often goes unappreciated. “I, too, often find myself looking at the sidewalk,” Swett admitted. “It sometimes helps to get a little prod to see that you’re living in a particular place.”

In his lecture, “Valuing New York City’s Changing Urban Forest,” U.S. Forest Service scientist David Nowak explained that the city’s trees contributed much more than just aesthetically pleasing scenery.

The 5.2 million trees that cover 24 percent of land in New York City are responsible for removing 2,202 tons of pollution and reducing energy use in buildings by $11.2 million annually. They also absorb 95 percent of ultraviolet radiation and save 12 people yearly by actively removing pollutants from the air, according to Nowak’s most recent study.

“You feel that the ecosystem, plants and people working together is unique; it is New York,” says Swett. “Many of the trees may belong elsewhere, but they’re here.”

New York City is, indeed, a city of trees that reflects the diversity and value of its residents. “Yet to the birds they’re just another tree.”