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Hackensack Shade Tree chair announces $200,000 schools grant and Second Street canopy project
Summary
Chair Josh Cohen told the council the Shade Tree Advisory Committee secured multiple grants — including a $200,000 Trees for Schools award and an Arbor Day Foundation grant to plant about 100 trees in the historically undercanopied Second Street neighborhood — and outlined utility coordination and planting timelines.
Josh Cohen, chair of the Hackensack Shade Tree Advisory Committee, told the council the committee has secured a string of grants to expand street and school-site canopy in parts of the city with low tree coverage.
Cohen said the committee has a $5,000 Green Communities grant through a state urban-forest program for a community-forestry management plan, a $15,000 stewardship grant to contribute to the citywide street-tree inventory, a $200,000 “Trees for Schools” grant in partnership with Hackensack Public Schools to plant roughly 100 trees on school sites and nearby streets, and an Arbor Day Foundation award to plant about 100 trees in the Second Street neighborhood.
“These partnerships were one of the things that really pushed us ahead,” Cohen said, describing the schools grant and crediting the city–school partnership and the arborist used on the management-plan scoring panel. He added that the committee has identified about 100 suitable planting locations and has already taken delivery of the saplings: “We have 100 trees. They’re waiting to be planted,” he said.
Cohen described the project as an environmental‑justice effort tied to historic disinvestment: Second Street and nearby blocks, he said, map to low tree‑canopy and redlining overlays. To reduce future conflicts, he said the committee is following “right tree, right place” principles — avoiding large‑canopy species under utility wires and mailing notices to adjacent residents so households can opt out before crews plant.
Cohen told the council the planting depends on utility markouts by PSE&G and other locators; pending markouts are expected to finish in mid‑November and crews hope to plant before ground freeze. He asked council members for consistent liaison support from the council and said the committee has open volunteer seats.
Why it matters: The grants bring dedicated funds and technical planning to neighborhoods with lower canopy cover; the Schools & Trees award focuses on schoolyards and surrounding streets and is scheduled to start planting in spring 2026, while the Second Street work is slated for the next planting window pending utility clearances.
What’s next: Cohen said the committee will present a community-forestry management plan to the council for review and track grant reporting requirements. He asked the council to re‑establish a one‑on‑one liaison relationship to help sustain implementation.
