What it takes to add Tree Guards to a famous Manhattan park

Ever wonder what it takes to make a medium-sized improvement in your neighborhood?

A year ago, I joined the Parks Committee of Manhattan Community Board 3, which covers the East Village, Lower East Side, and parts of Chinatown. I also volunteer and spend a lot of time in Tompkins Square Park (TSP). And one thing I’ve noticed is that the park lacks tree guards on the trees surrounding its perimeter.

So, I wanted to share what I’ve learned over the past year trying to advocate for—and fund—more tree guards at TSP.

You might be wondering: what’s the big deal about tree guards? If you live in New York City, you’ve probably walked past dozens of them today without a second thought. They're the short metal fences that surround a tree bed.

They’re surprisingly important. Tree guards shield trees from vehicles and dog waste, protecting our investment in new and younger trees. And depending on the design, they can even add more public seating, which is always a plus for making a park more human-centric.

The designs vary quite a bit. Most are short metal fences that cover three sides of a tree plot. Some are wooden, and others can even look like a cage, as I’ve noted on Threads:

To get started, I tried to quantify the problem with some good ol’ manual data collection in late 2024. I walked around the perimeter of Tompkins Square Park with a pen and paper to attach some real numbers to the issue. I focused on the park’s perimeter trees since they seem most exposed to dog walkers and vehicles.

The results were a bit stark. Only 7 of the 58 trees on the park's exterior—about 12%—have tree guards. That was way less than I expected. Some of these trees are in more danger than others. For example, I noticed one might be at risk of being damaged by the Greenmarket that sets up every weekend along one corner of the park:

And does the neighborhood actually want more of them? I think so. You can spot one tree near the corner of East 7th Street and Avenue B with a makeshift tree guard that doubles as an art installation. I’m sure the creators would appreciate a more permanent solution.

With data in hand, my next step was to talk to community stakeholders to build support and figure out why more guards weren’t already in place.

The first group I reached out to was the one managing the park: New York City Department of Parks & Recreation (NYC Parks). The agency was surprisingly open to my request and even hosted me for a walkthrough of the park in August 2024 with a Parks Manager. The manager confirmed that more tree guards would be a huge benefit. She noted that dog urine can literally poison trees and that some guard designs can double as much-needed seating.

I also connected with the main volunteer group for the park, Friends of Tompkins Square Park. They agreed over email that more tree guards would be a “terrific and an essential need.” They also noted park volunteers “often comment on the need for tree guards.”

Next, I contacted our local City Councilmember’s office. After an initial email went unanswered, I got them on the phone. They noted that they had already allocated $25,000 to NYC Parks for tree planting and maintenance in the district.

Finally, there’s the Community Board. Every year, Community Boards write District Needs Statements that rank funding requests for the most pressing issues. The November 2024 version of our statement included "street tree maintenance" as a ranked budget request.

So, we have broad community support for more tree guards. Why don't they exist yet?

I ran into two related roadblocks. First, tree guards are surprisingly expensive. Second, it's not clear who is supposed to pay for them.

According to the NYC Parks website, a single tree guard can cost anywhere from $800 to $1,500, including installation.

Let's do the math. To install guards for the 51 unprotected trees in Tompkins Square Park, at a modest $1,000 per tree, would cost about $51,000.

Whether that’s a lot or a little depends on your perspective. That $51,000 might be in a "danger zone"—it's much more than a quick fix but far less than a splashy, attention-grabbing infrastructure project. For context, the recent reconstruction of the fieldhouse in TSP cost $5.6 million. Tree guards would be less than 1% of that project’s cost.

The high price tag was a recurring theme. As the Friends of Tompkins Square Park told me, “The cost of individual tree guards ($800-1000.) is beyond the reach of our group right now”.

This ties into the second hurdle: who pays? The responsibility is murky. Even when funds are allocated, control isn't clear. The City Councilmember’s office mentioned they couldn’t directly control how the $25,000 they gave to NYC Parks was spent.

Finally, tree guards may suffer from a classic problem with public spending: it’s important, but not sexy. Residents are not going to list Tree guards as a top priority. In that District Needs Statement I mentioned earlier, Community Board 3 ranked "street tree maintenance" 31st out of 32 requests.

Despite all this, I still think this is a project worth doing. Tompkins Square Park is a flagship Manhattan park, and we should invest in protecting its trees.

There are a few possible ways forward.

One option is to bypass the bureaucracy by fundraising. The Parks Department runs a public-private partnership called Tree Time, which has a fund for "installation of tree guards, tree planting, and sidewalk repair." If we prioritized certain tree beds, fundraising a few thousand dollars seems achievable. I’ve even considered self-funding one guard to declare a small victory.

Another approach would be to reduce the cost of the guards. For example, wooden tree guards are far less expensive than metal ones:

A Red Hook-based organization called Big Reuse is already piloting this effort. They offer a guide for getting a permit and provide the needed materials to build a tree guard for rent. Their wooden guards cost just $275—a quarter of the price of a metal one. They’ve already partnered with some City Council members to install guards as a volunteer activity. I've even spotted some of their handiwork in Greenpoint.

The Friends of Tompkins Square Park also highlighted wooden tree guards as a practical compromise: “On your walk, you may have noticed bamboo fencing around a Linden tree and a Chinese Elm on the east side of Avenue A … Unfortunately, there was no funding for tree guards so we installed bamboo fencing.”

Finally, a little advocacy could make tree guards more visible as a priority. As a member of the CB3 Parks Committee, I’ve pushed to explicitly call out the need for tree guards in the District Needs Statement. And social media (including this newsletter!) could help raise the issue's profile.

So, new tree guards haven’t arrived at TSP yet. But we have a couple promising leads to improve the situation. Stay tuned for more updates as we keep pushing for a better-protected Tompkins Square Park.