New York Restoration Project

10/16/2026

VIRTUAL WORKSHOP: Handmade Garden Architecture 🪚🌱

Join NYRP and Drew Seskunas of Saw Earth (Seskunas Architecture Workshop on 🌎) for an inspiring discussion about handmade architecture and its impact on urban gardens, sustainability, and local communities 🌿 Discover how a design evolves from an initial concept to a finished build and how direct community involvement shapes every step of the process 🧩

Drew Seskunas is a registered architect in New York State and currently teaches at Parsons School of Constructed Environments and at the NYIT School of Architecture and Design (School of Architecture & Design). He directs student design/build workshops for community spaces around NYC while also designing architecture, furniture, and kinetic sculptures 🛠 He and his students have worked with our garden groups to build custom structures at El Cataño Communiry Garden, Scholes Street Children’s Community Garden, Greene Acres Community Garden, The Herb Garden, and Cooper St. Community Garden 🌻

📆 WHEN: Wednesday, October 21, 6-7:30 PM 
 
📍 WHERE: Zoom (Zoom links will be shared upon registration)  
 
Registration is required 📥  Register via the link in our bio 🔗

10/15/2026

CELEBRATE NYC HALLOWEEN AT 👻🍂

Join us on Saturday, October 31 at our annual in Inwood for a spook-tacular afternoon of haunted garden activities 🧟‍♂️ costume contests 🧙‍♀️ scavenger hunts 🔎 pumpkin painting 🎃 sweet treats🍬 and so much more! 🕷 Our biggest and spookiest park event of the year will include...

📚 Book Giveaway by Word Up Community Bookshop/Librería Comunitaria
🧚🏻 Fairy Quest Scavenger Hunt by
🌿 Plant activities with PlantXchange Network
🎭 Performance by The People's Theatre
🍃 Leaf block printing with .convergence
🎲 Games with Hex & Company
🌱 Seed packet decorating with Washington Heights/Inwood Food Council
..as well activities from , .nyc, League of Conservation Voters, Lower East Side Ecology Center, League of Women Voters of the City of New York, Nysomcommunity, Rainbow Railroad, , , and 🧙‍♀️

📆 WHEN: Saturday, October 31, 2026 from 12pm – 4pm

📍 WHERE: Sherman Creek Park, located near 3703 10th Ave, 10034. Enter at the intersection of Dyckman St., 10th Ave, and Harlem River Dr. (just South of PS 5)

For more information and to register: nyrp.org/fallfest

10/15/2026

We were thrilled to be featured on Spectrum News NY1 this morning! Thank you to Roger Clark for covering our historic planting of hybrid American chestnut trees at the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo. Watch the full segment here: https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2026/10/14/trees--bronx-zoo--conservation-

New York Restoration Project and WCS Bronx Zoo teaming up to help bring back species that are functionally extinct in the wild.

10/13/2026

THE KING AND QUEEN OF HULAWEEN: Harry Guinness and Sophie von Haselberg 👻

We are proud to be honoring NYRP Trustees Sophie von Haselberg and Harry Guinness at our annual Hulaween gala on Friday, October 23 🌟 Beyond killing it in the Halloween costume realm year over year, Sophie and Harry have been longtime champions of green space in NYC 🗽🌱 As the daughter of NYRP’s founder Bette Midler, Sophie has been with NYRP since the beginning 🥲 

Join us in celebrating Sophie’s and Harry’s leadership and unwavering commitment to NYRP’s mission next week at Hulaween on Horror Reef: Monsters of the Deep 🧜‍♀️ All proceeds from this spooktacular celebration will go support our essential work across the five boroughs, helping steward parks and community gardens, plant and distribute trees, and create greener, healthier neighborhoods for all New Yorkers 🌿 
 
Learn more and get your tickets today at nyrp.org/hulaween 🎟️💚

📸: Andrew Tess

10/08/2026

We are thrilled to have partnered with the Wildlife Conservation Society to bring the American chestnut back to the Bronx Zoo after over 120 years!

This is a particularly historic moment for the species because the Bronx Zoo is where the American chestnut blight was first described. In 1904, Bronx Zoo Chief Forester Hermann Merkel documented the American chestnut blight at the zoo. The disease would eventually spread across the continent, killing nearly 4 billion trees and transforming eastern forests. Today, the American chestnut is considered functionally extinct in the wild.

More than 120 years later, New York Restoration Project and our Wildlife Conservation Society partners planted hybrid, disease resistant chestnuts back in the very place where that devastating story of the blight was first observed. It’s an extraordinary full-circle moment for the conservation of the species!

Thank you to The New York Times, Gothamist, CBS New York, PIX11, ABC7, and the New York Post for covering this historic moment. Read and watch the coverage here: https://www.nyrp.org/en/media-room/

10/05/2026

More than 120 years after the American chestnut blight was first documented at the Wildlife Conservation Society Bronx Zoo, the trees are coming back. 🥲🌰 
 
In 1904, the zoo’s Chief Forester Hermann Merkel was the first to document the chestnut blight that would ultimately kill nearly 4 billion American chestnut trees across North America and leave the species functionally extinct in the wild.
Before the blight arrived in North America, American Chestnuts were some of the most abundant and productive trees in the Eastern United States, quickly growing up to 100 feet tall on average and producing tons of nutrient-rich nuts every year. American chestnut trees were a critical part of forest ecosystems and a prized source of food and lumber. So, when the blight wiped out billions of them, we all suffered ❤️‍🩹

Today, as part of our , we’re thrilled to be planting hybrid, disease resistant American Chestnut trees at the site where the blight was first documented over a century ago. Their return is a powerful reminder of what conservation, science and restoration can make possible 🌱

To learn more about and support our work to bring the American Chestnut back to New York City, go to nyrp.org/chestnut 🌰

09/30/2026

NYC PAWPAW FEST IS THIS SATURDAY (10/3)!!!🥭🌿Please note: the public portion of pawpaw fest begins at NOON 🕛

Join NYRP for a free community celebration of North America’s largest native fruit: the beloved pawpaw 💚

This event is part of , an annual day of activities across the city raising awareness of the importance of our urban forest, presented by Forest for All NYC in partnership with the Parks and Open Space Partners coalition and NYC Parks 🌳

Located in Inwood’s Sherman Creek Park, the festival will feature:

🌱 11:00 AM – Pawpaw propagation workshop led by the “Pawpaw King of Brooklyn,” Reza Farzan — UPDATE: registration is full, but you can still sign up for the waitlist

🚲 12:00–4:00 PM – Tabling, including bike blender smoothies (until they run out)

🌳 1:00–3:00 PM – Free pawpaw tree giveaway — UPDATE: Advance registration is full for the pawpaw giveaway, but walk-ups are still welcome. Beginning at 2 PM, trees will be available for walk-up recipients on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last. Please arrive near the start of the event to join the waitlist.

🥭 2:00 PM – Pawpaw presentation from permaculture expert and regional authority Dale Hendricks

Plus music and community partner activities!

The event will be free and open to the public. Register via the link in our bio 💌

09/25/2026

FREE FALL WORKOUT CLASSES IN NYC 💪🌻

🏋️ Power Up Pilates with The Fit In
WHERE: Target Brooklyn Community Garden (931 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11205)
WHEN: Wednesdays, Sept 23–Oct 21, 5:30–6:30 PM

💃 Zumba with Frances
WHERE: El Cataño Community Garden (171 E. 110th St., Manhattan, NY 10029)
WHEN: Mondays, Sept 21–Oct 18, 10–11 AM

🧘‍♀️ Yoga with Sun Lotus Yoga | Online Yoga
WHERE: maggies_garden_149 (564 West 149th St., Manhattan, NY 10031)
WHEN: Sundays, Oct 4–Oct 25, 12–1 PM

For more information and to register, go to the link in our bio 🔗

09/24/2026

+ PRESENT: Rooted in Red — Indigenous Plant Traditions & Seed Revitalization 🌱

In conjunction with Poster House’s exhibition Designed to Be Red: Native American & Indigenous Poster Works, New York Restoration Project and Poster House will present a virtual fireside conversation on the relationship between indigenous communities and the plants that shape their gardens 🌿 Chenae Bullock (Chenae Bullock), founder of Moskehtu Consulting (Moskehtu Consulting Firm), will join DK Kinard (dknewyorker), NYRP’s Director of Community Engagement, to explore how plants have traditionally been used within indigenous communities and how that knowledge, alongside seed revitalization, continues today 🌱

📆 WHEN: Wednesday, September 30, 6-7:30 PM

📍 WHERE: Zoom (Zoom links will be shared upon registration) 
 
Registration is required 📥  Register via the link in our bio 🔗