Volunteers finished watering all 89 new trees on the green in about 45 minutes. CJ Zemke drives the Parks Department watering truck, which carries up to 1,250 gallons of water. Isobel Maksoudian leaned over and poured two five-gallon buckets of water onto a recently planted evergreen tree on the New Haven Green. “I feel like I’m getting stronger every week,” she said with a smile, showing off the empty buckets. “Soon I’ll be up to carrying three.”  Maksoudian was one of 15 volunteers who gathered on the Green Thursday evening to water all 89 trees that were planted by the city in April. Those trees went in the ground as part of an initiative to plant 5,000 trees in New Haven over five years, starting in 2023. Yale/Downtown Alder Elias Theodore organized the summer tree watering sessions after meeting with city Parks Director Max Webster in January.  Theodore said he had been doing trash cleanups on the Green, and wanted “other ways for people to get involved and feel like they have a stake in the future.” When they met, Webster told him that watering trees is often a “big strain” for the Parks Department’s Trees Division, and Theodore thought to get volunteers involved. He scheduled four watering sessions in June. Encouraged by turnout, he extended the program into July — Thursday’s was the fifth of the summer. For brothers CJ and Kyle Zemke — foreman and tree trimmer for the Parks Department respectively — it usually takes several hours to water all 89 new trees on the Green. One person would usually need four-and-a-half minutes to water a tree, according to CJ, which adds up. But when even 10-15 volunteers join, he said, it takes less than an hour to water every tree in the park. “It’s way more resourceful to have help,” CJ said. Annie Mixsell, the city’s tree warden, came to the event Thursday and helped water the saplings. She said the Green has lost four elm trees to Dutch Elm disease this year already, and that the city made new plantings in April to “increase resiliency and biodiversity on the Green.” The new trees belong to 16 different species, from white pines to crabapples to cypress trees, Mixsell said. “When you have only a single species or a single age tree, when you have insect or disease threats, they’ll wipe out everything.” The city planted many species that “thrive in Maryland and North Carolina,” she said, because “that’s basically our climate right now.” Planting trees that can handle the heat has become “common” in New Haven, Mixsell explained — biodiversity and climate considerations come first when deciding which trees to plant in a park.  Even when it rains, the Zemke brothers said, the trees need plenty of water. Kyle said soil on the Green has been “dry as bone,” and noted that even with storms last weekend, New Haven is “still in a drought,” which makes weekly watering that much more important.  “A lot of the most meaningful volunteering comes in the form of consistently showing up,” Theodore said after the session, which was attended by several fellow Yale students. “You don’t need to bring anything. You don’t need to know anything. You just come and help out.” “I’m hoping this outlives my alder term,” he said, adding that he also wants his project to “spur” others to take care of their neighborhood trees too, mentioning initiatives like Fair Haven Alder Frank Redente’s tree watering at Chatham Square. Theodore, a first-term alder, plans to invite Yale undergraduate groups and New Haven high schoolers to sign up for tree watering shifts in the fall — trees will need 25 gallons of water every week for at least the next two years, he said. Tree planting on the Green has “never been done at this scale,” according to Geri Mauhs, coordinator for the Friends of the New Haven Green group. “These are going to be shade for the next generation.” From left to right: Downtown Alder Elias Theodore, Yale students Olivia Barton and Tommy Chang, and recent Yale graduate Maya Franz. Kyle Zemke carries a hose while his brother CJ drives the truck across the upper Green. Isobel Maksoudian, left, and Olivia Barton, right, team up to water a new tree. The post Water-Wielding Volunteers Keep New Trees Green On The Green appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less