1. NYS DEC Hudson River Estuary
Program’s “Trees for Tribs” Initiative
Kevin Grieser, Riparian Buffer Coordinator, Hudson River Estuary Program
Riparian Buffer Working Group
New York State November 10th, 2009
Water
Resources
Institute
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

2. Overview
• Estuary Program &
The Action Agenda
• “Trees for Tribs”
• Who’s eligible
• Site selection
• How it works
• Our plant material
• Where we’ve
worked
• Numbers to date
• What’s in store for
the future
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

3. The Hudson River Estuary Program
The Hudson River Estuary Program is a unique regional
partnership designed to protect, conserve, restore, and enhance
the estuary. The Hudson's productivity and diversity of natural
resources sustain a wide array of present and future human
benefits. It is a nursery for valuable food and game fish, a water
supply, a boater's playground, a landscape of inspiring beauty,
a shipping route, and more. Its management calls for a
cooperative effort of broad scope, coordinating public input with
the expertise of professionals throughout New York State's
Department of Environmental Conservation [DEC] and other
agencies.
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

4. The blueprint for implementing this The Action Agenda
program is The Hudson River Estuary
Action Agenda, first released in May
1996. Its principal goals are to protect
and conserve natural resources and
ecosystem health, clean up pollution
and other impairments, and promote
public use and enjoyment of the river.
The Agenda specifies goals and
objectives to be implemented over a
four year period extending through the
year 2009.
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

5. Riparian Buffers in the Action Agenda
Hudson River Estuary Action Agenda Goal 4: Streams and
Tributaries of the Hudson River Estuary Watershed
By 2008, map and characterize riparian buffer health of the
Hudson River estuary watershed to assist in identifying
opportunities for protection and restoration.
By 2015, protect or restore 750 miles of forest buffers
through cooperative partnership and local land use
strategies to protect habitat, reduce flooding damage,
and cleanse stormwater runoff.
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

6. Buffers in the next Action Agenda
GOAL: Protect and restore the streams, their corridors,
and the watersheds that replenish the estuary and
nourish its web of life, and sustain water resources that
are critical to the health and well-being of Hudson Valley
residents and the ecosystem.
By 2014, …develop and deliver local government guidance that
protects stream buffers and floodplain corridors to minimize future
flooding impacts and protect stream habitat and water quality, and
work with pilot watershed communities to implement protection
ordinances.
By 2014, …re-vegetate 15 miles of stream with native vegetation or
plant 30,000 native trees and shrubs within riparian buffers while
engaging volunteers. Assist communities and landowners to identify
opportunities for streamside assessment, outreach and restoration
through “Trees for Tribs” and other riparian restoration programs.
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

7. “Trees for Tribs”
Replanting the Streams of the Hudson Valley
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

8. Who Can Apply for “Trees for Tribs”?
• Watershed Groups & Associations
• Non-profits
• Environmental Organizations
• Land Trusts
• Municipalities
• Boy Scout & Girl Scout Troops
• Home Owner/Neighborhood Assoc.
• Schools & Universities
• Farmers
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

9. Selecting a Buffer Re-planting Site?
• Site Selection
• Avoid unstable
streambanks
• Avoid buffers highly infested
with invasive plants
• High profile/public/visible
locations preferred
• Focus on lawn & grass
• Must be located within the
Estuary Watershed
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

10. Riparian Buffer Widths & Their
Ecological Functions
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

11. “Trees for Tribs”: So How Does It Work?
• Spring and Fall planting projects
• Contact Buffer Coordinator & SCA intern
months in advance to schedule a site visit
• Site analysis & recommendations
• Submit an application
• Plant estimate formula
• Schedule plantings & press releases
• Volunteer recruitment
• Technical assistance & site prep
• Planting plan & plant selection
• Pre-digging planting holes
• Provide free native trees and shrubs
• Trees tubes and weed mats
• Bio-engineering stakes, erosion control
materials, native riparian seed mix
• Coordinate planting event
• Yearly plant monitoring & periodic maint.
• “Trees for Tribs” signage
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

12. “Trees for Tribs” Plant Material
• Tree Stock (~20 species)
• 1/3 Octoraro tubelings
• 1/3 Pinelands #2s
• 1/3 RPM #2s
• Handful of bareroots
• Vegetation monitoring on
trees at all projects with
100+ plants; caliper & ht.
• Shrub Stock (~10-15 species)
• Majority from NYS DEC Saratoga Tree
Nursery as spring bareroots, half potted-up
for fall projects
• Special species ordered as Octoraro
tubelings and/or Pinelands #1s
• Bio-engineering Stakes
• NRCS Big Flats Plant Material Center
• Sandbar Willow
• Southern Tier Consulting (9 native species)
• Saratoga Tree Nursery NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

13. Celebrate National Volunteer Week & Arbor
Day with the Hudson River Estuary Program
The NYS DEC’s “Hudson River Estuary
Trees for Tribs” initiative will be hosting
two volunteer bareroot-seedling “potting
events” in celebration of this year’s
National Volunteer Week (April 19-25) and
Arbor Day (April 24).
Volunteers will help pot-up bareroot
seedlings for the “Hudson River Estuary
Trees for Tribs” initiative - a program that
offers free native plants to landowners
who qualify for stream buffer restoration
projects.
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

14. WHEN: Friday, April 24th from 9am-4pm
Sunday, April 26th from 9am+
WHERE: The “Berm”, NYSDEC Region III New Paltz
In just two years, the “Hudson River Estuary Trees for Tribs” initiative has been
responsible for planting more than 32,000 feet of stream buffers along the Estuary’s
tributaries with 12,000 native trees, shrubs, and grasses. Over 70 projects have been
completed to date with the help of some 1,200 volunteers and 50 project partners.
If you’re interested in a Fall 2009 project, applications are due by August 1st.
Contact info: Kevin Grieser, Riparian Buffer Coordinator
Hudson River Estuary Program
(845) 256-3145
kagriese@gw.dec.state.ny.us
www.dec.ny.gov/lands/43668.html
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

15. Trees for Tribs Accomplishments
• 2007-2009
• 116 project partners
• 136 project sites
• 18,400 native plants
• 49,000 ft. of stream
length
• 1,500+ volunteers
• A typical planting season
• 20-30 projects
• 10-300 plants per project
• 3,000 plants per season
(not including stakes)
• 250-500 volunteers
• 5-10 weekend projects
• 5-10 weekday projects
• 5-10 drop-off or pick-up
projects
• $32,000 USFS Grant NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

16. What’s in store for the future?
• Riparian Buffer Protection
Outreach
• More “fine-scale” buffer
mapping
• Cornell Projects
• Roadside Ditch Mgmt.
• Trees for Tribs study
• “Trees for Tribs” large
interpretative signs
• Buffer brochure
• Buffer native plant list
• Native seed collection &
propagation
• Buffer mix seed packets
• Increased “Trees for
Tribs” monitoring
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

17. Questions?
Contact info: Kevin Grieser, Riparian Buffer Coordinator
NYS DEC, Hudson River Estuary Program
21 S. Putt Corners Rd.
New Paltz, NY 12561
(845) 256-3145
kagriese@gw.dec.state.ny.us
Spring 2010 applications are due by March 1st
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation