Tracking 25 Million Tree Plantings in New York: A Digital Service Network Spotlight

Background

In 2022, New York’s Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act allocated $4.2 billion for environmental and community-based projects across the state. Building on the momentum of this pivotal legislation, Governor Kathy Hochul launched the 25 Million Trees by 2033 initiative—a plan to plant 25 million trees statewide by 2033 to promote climate resilience through reforestation.

To support this goal and monitor progress, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) developed the NYS Tree Tracker. Funded through the 2022 legislation, this public-facing tool allows New Yorkers to log newly-planted trees in a centralized database.

To learn more, the Beeck Center’s Digital Services Network (DSN) spoke with the coordinator of the 25 Million Trees initiative, Annabel Gregg; NYS Information Technology Specialist Nicholas Hepler; and NYSDEC Lands and Forests Director and New York State Forester, Fiona Watt.

Building a Tree Tracking System

With New York’s goal of planting 25 million trees by 2033, the state needed a centralized way to measure and report progress. The idea for the Tree Tracker took shape in planning sessions between the NYSDEC and Office of Information Technology Services (OITS). 

The team began by defining two core requirements for the system: It had to aggregate large volumes of planting data from government and nonprofit partners, and it needed to be simple enough for individual residents to log plantings. A challenge was designing a process that could accommodate both small-scale plantings by individual residents and large-scale projects managed by organizations.

To help guide their design, the NYSDEC team looked to Maryland, which had previously addressed a similar problem by using a dual-form approach (sometimes referred to as a dual-survey approach). In Maryland’s model, different types of users were given separate forms tailored to their needs, and the results were later combined during analysis.

In New York State’s case, all users began with the same form. They were asked who planted the tree, their contact information, how the planting was funded, how long it took, and how many trees were planted. From there, the form adapted to the scale of the project. Users reporting fewer than 10 trees were directed to a map where they dropped a point for each tree, while those planting more than 10 trees were prompted to draw a polygon outlining a park, private forest, or farm plot. This adaptation of the dual-form approach allowed New York to engage both audiences effectively while also streamlining data analysis. After completing this section, users moved to a final page where they provided details about the tree species, size, and source.

Hepler, who helped develop the Tree Tracker, focused on accessibility and simplicity by refining both the interface and the instructions. “The outreach team spent a lot of time on the wording to ensure that it was easy to understand,” Hepler said, noting that they wanted both large organizations and individual homeowners to feel confident contributing to the database. 

This meant testing the form with different user groups, simplifying technical terms, and replacing jargon with plain language, so residents unfamiliar with Geographical Information Systems (GIS) could still participate. 

With a goal of not only inspiring participation, but also accurately tracking progress toward the goal of 25 million trees, the team built quality control into the system from the start. “We put in certain checks to ensure that somebody couldn’t put in data that was older than what we wanted,” said Hepler. 

For example, the team built  a system that would flag older or repeat submissions and filter them out. The Tracker also automatically pulled metadata, such as county information, from submitted locations to improve reporting accuracy. The NYSDEC team regularly reviews the underlying data, flagging potential duplicates and excluding them from the public map and overall count.

Throughout implementation, the team took an iterative approach, testing features with both internal users and partner organizations to ensure the tool would meet real-world needs. This collaborative, problem-solving mindset allowed them to deliver a single, flexible tool capable of capturing everything from “a single tree in a backyard to an entire acreage of new trees,” said Watt. The result was a functional database and a public-facing system designed to inspire participation and give New Yorkers a visible stake in achieving the 25 million tree goal.

[The Tree Tracker] can capture everything from a single tree in a backyard to an entire acreage of new trees.”

Fiona Watt
Lands and Forests Director, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

A Holistic Deployment Strategy

With the Tree Tracker in place, the NYSDEC and its partners are advancing a deployment strategy that weaves together data transparency, public engagement, direct access to trees, and youth education to ensure the program benefits communities across New York and achieves a wide and equitable impact.

Making data public, visible, and motivating: The Tree Tracker’s public dashboard summarizes contributions by county and region, fostering transparency while also sparking friendly competition. “It’s a little bit of gamification,” Watt said, hinting at future enhancements along these lines to keep participation high. By making collective progress visible, the platform reinforces the shared responsibility of meeting the 25 million tree goal.

Engaging and providing trees to communities statewide: The NYSDEC has partnered with local organizations such as Tree City USA and the New York Restoration Project to put trees into the hands of residents. “On Arbor Day alone, thousands of trees were distributed, each accompanied by a pamphlet linking directly to the Tree Tracker,” Gregg said. NYSDEC provides an online tree-planting toolkit, hosts frequent community events, and promotes volunteer opportunities on its website and social media channels.

Centering equity and environmental justice: According to New York State’s website, a disadvantaged community in the state “experiences the burdens of negative health effects, environmental pollution, climate change impacts, or socioeconomic challenges.” The tree planting initiative places special emphasis on supporting plantings in these communities. “Over 30 percent of trees have been planted in disadvantaged communities,” said Watt. 

Investing in youth education: The team is investing in educating young people to extend the initiative’s impact into the future. NYSDEC staff work with local schools to introduce young people to forestry, often through hands-on experiences. Gregg recalled a time when she planted trees with second graders from the Albany School of Humanities that was captured in the Tree Tracker. “How effective and meaningful it is when you get young people excited about a concept,” she said. “Youth will be the stewards of our resources.”

What’s Next for the Tree Tracker

The Tree Tracker represents a step toward New York’s climate resilience goals, but reaching the goal of 25 million trees by 2033 will require sustained investment. Several key priorities are shaping the next phase of implementation, all designed to complement the Tracker’s ability to measure and inspire progress.

One of the state’s most pressing efforts is the modernization of the Colonel William F. Fox Memorial Saratoga Tree Nursery. The state-owned facility is the oldest tree nursery in the country and currently produces up to 1.5 million seedlings per year. Recognizing the nursery’s central role in supplying seedlings for reforestation, the state has committed $25 million to expand and upgrade the facility. 

Once fully operational, the nursery is expected to produce between 6 million to 8 million seedlings per year. This investment will not only support long-term environmental goals, but also economic ones. “Our working forests generate millions in dollars of revenue to the forest products industry and thousands of jobs across New York State,” said Watt. Increasing the state’s production capacity ensures that both public and private reforestation projects can move forward. The Tree Tracker will play a part in reflecting this growth by highlighting where seedlings are planted and how many have taken root statewide, making the scale of reforestation visible to the public. This transparency not only builds trust but also shows the broader environmental and economic impact of New York’s investment. 

New York is laying the groundwork for ambitious reforestation goals that will help it meet its goals of environmental resilience. “It is all a matter of who are we missing and how do we get them involved,” Gregg said. The Tree Tracker is uniquely positioned to help answer that question because it makes reforestation visible and participatory. By showing where trees are planted and where gaps remain, it encourages communities to get involved and builds a culture of reforestation across New York.

Lessons Learned

Design for scale and simplicity. When building a tool to serve both institutions and individuals, start by defining core requirements that balance technical capacity with user-friendliness. The Tree Tracker team allowed organizations to report large plantings while giving residents an easy way to log a single tree in their backyard. User-focused design choices helped maximize participation across audiences. 

When used well, “small” digital tools can have a big impact. Don’t underestimate the power of seemingly modest digital products. The Tree Tracker is a simple map-and-form tool, but it plays an outsized role in coordinating New York’s statewide reforestation effort. By making progress visible and participation easy, seemingly small digital services and tools can become linchpins for achieving ambitious, long-term policy goals across any and all areas of government operations and service delivery.