1,000 new Boston trees for Arbor Day

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

Volunteers Leasia Ward(left), Luis Sota (center), and Mike Nonni planted a tree Thursday in Harambee Park.

By Globe Staff

Oak by oak, maple by maple, and honey locust by honey locust, 1,000 trees have been planted in Boston in the month of April. With each birch, linden, and tulip tree, the city has inched closer to growing 100,000 new trees by 2020, a goal unveiled with great fanfare on Arbor Day in 2007.

A year later, officials have surged past their initial benchmark by putting 2,327 saplings in the ground, a mark well above the first-year goal of 2,000. To mark Arbor Day and the anniversary of Grow Boston Greener, Mayor Thomas M. Menino was scheduled today to plant the 1,000th tree in April at Franklin Field in Dorchester.

The project began with a comprehensive inventory of the trees in Boston that found a tree canopy covers 29 percent of the city. The coverage varies widely: West Roxbury, the city's leafiest neighborhood, is almost half-covered, while South and East Boston each have coverage of less than 10 percent. Officials say the planting of 100,000 trees would bring the proportion citywide to 35 percent by 2020.

To reach that goal, the city increased the capital budget for trees on streets to $500,000 and raised $200,000 for planting trees on private property. That includes a $125,000 grant from The Home Depot Foundation which will used to plant 1,300 trees.

According to the city, some 300 individual residents have signed up for private tree plantings. There have been three trainings for tree captains, a designation for neighborhood leaders who plant 15 trees or more. And five community workshop have been held in neighborhoods that lack shade, including Roxbury, Dorchester, and Brighton.

After meeting its 2,000-tree goal this year, the city is looking to gradually ramp up planting. Officials hope to plant more than 10,000 trees annually from 2013 to 2015; the number will then drop back to 2,000 by 2020.

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