MacDonald Park To Be Green Again

After more than six months as the desolate remains of a once-verdant patch of parkland, MacDonald Park will be restored to its former glory next month, with more than 79 new shade trees set to be planted on April 9.

almost all of the large shade trees in the park were uprooted, cracked in half or otherwise destroyed.

The result was a park that has since looked almost naked, a triangular space between Queens Boulevard and Austin Street, lined with benches.

Now, thanks to Jet Blue and the MillionTreesNYC initiative, residents of Forest Hills will get a chance to put their hands in the dirt and bring some life back to the park.

“It’s a really quick turnaround, this was a special project for us. We were looking to get there as quickly as possible after the storms,” said Max Litt, senior project manager for the MillionTreesNYC initiative. “We’re also planting them nice and early in the spring, so the trees are still dormant. They’ll be ready to thrive and flourish once the weather warms up.”

The 79 total trees being planted include 14 Red Oaks, 22 Japanese Zelkovas, 18 Winter King Thornless Hawthornes and more. The objective, Litt said, was to find more mature trees that could be moved into the park, so the original intent of the parks designers could be at least partially preserved while the trees were still growing.

“We’re planting the trees at a pretty large size already, it will definitely have a visual impact,” Litt said. “A lot of them are over 14 feet tall.”

Litt added that it will likely be decades before the trees reached maturation in the area.

The tree-planting, which is being set up as a neighborhood event, is co-sponsored by Jet Blue and the New York Restoration Project.

Residents who are interested in participating in the April 9 event, which includes MacDonald Park, a planting at P.S. 303 and Yellowstone Municipal Park, can register at www.jetblue.com/trees.