Trees Count at Shore Park

When and Where

When: October 21, 2026
Timeline: 4:00 pm — 6:00 pm

Location: Shore Park — meet at 97th Street and Shore Road

Trees Count is NYC Parks' census of every public tree in the five boroughs. It is taken once every ten years, and this round is being counted by volunteers: more than 2,500 joined in its first year, and it is now in its second. This session comes to Shore Park, the parkland along Shore Road and the Belt Parkway in Bay Ridge, and is hosted with Pineapple Ride.

Troop 23 is not taking part as a troop. We list it because it is two hours of real conservation work in our own neighborhood, and Scouts, families and neighbors can sign up for it on their own.

What Volunteers Do

• Each volunteer gets a tote bag with everything needed to count trees.
• A 20-minute training covers the basics of tree identification and how to measure and assess each tree.
• Volunteers then split up into zones of the park and record each tree in the Tree Census app.

After a first training event, volunteers are welcome to keep counting on their own in smaller parks across the city, so one afternoon can be the start of something a Scout or a whole family carries on. Returning volunteers can get extra giveaway items while supplies last.

Bring water and wear closed-toe shoes — NYC Parks asks for both.

Registration is through NYC Parks: register for Trees Count at Shore Park. Other Trees Count events across the city, and the census's running totals, are on the NYC Parks Trees Count page.

Meeting Point: 97th Street and Shore Road

Volunteers meet at 97th Street and Shore Road, at the south end of Shore Road, close to the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge (map). The nearest subway is the R train at Bay Ridge–95th Street.

For Scouts

Counting trees is service that teaches while it helps. Telling one species from another and measuring trunks is the same close observation that First Class asks for when a Scout identifies ten kinds of native plants in the local area. A Scout who goes on his own and hopes to count the afternoon as service time should talk to the Scoutmaster beforehand.

Shore Park and Troop 23

Troop 23 knows Shore Park well. Ty's Eagle project tackled erosion and drainage in Shore Road Park near the 79th Street courts; Jalen's restored a stretch of the Shore Parkway Greenway starting at the American Veterans Memorial Pier; the troop cleaned the park on Scouts Trash the Trash Day and stands on the pier every September for the 9/11 vigil. Last year Trees Count came to Owl's Head Park, where the troop first met more than a century ago.