ABSTRACT
It is understood that the establishment period following planting of an urban street tree is crucial to its survival (Richards 1979; Gilbertson and Bradshaw 1990), yet little is known about the factors or relationships that ultimately contribute to tree mortality or survival. Improving the survival of young street trees can do more to reduce replacement needs than will investments to maintain older trees (Richards 1979). This study of young street trees planted throughout neighborhoods in New York City provides a context in which to understand how biological, social, and urban design factors impact the establishment of new street trees through a multi-disciplinary site assessment framework that examines the conditions of the urban street. In this study, we present our rationale, methods, and descriptive statistics on the subject in an effort to contribute to the literature on street
tree health and as a means to inform similar practitioner-based efforts in other urban areas.
