As an arborist for the Prospect Park Alliance, Jared Kuhn gets one question a lot this time of year, “what do you do in the winter?” He can’t help but smile.

It’s a fair question. In the spring, many of the Park’s 30,000 trees return to life with new blooms and leaves. During the summer, they provide crucial shade for many a picnic. And in the fall, the Park’s 30,000 trees become awash with vibrant reds, oranges and yellows.

But while most trees are dormant in the winter, the Alliance’s two arborists, Jared Kuhn and Ryan Gellis, are still busy in the Park. “There’s no true off-season for us. In the winter, we are surveying the Park and removing dead limbs,” Jared explains. “This time of year, issues with trees are easier to spot. It helps us strategize our work for spring and summer.”

The lack of foliage actually allows Jared and Ryan to inspect trees more closely for potential detriments to the health of the trees. “We’re also able to do more structural pruning,” says Jared, “which trains young trees to grow stronger, and entails clipping away branches that could cause the tree to become weaker as it grows larger.”

A Pennsylvania native, Jared studied forestry at Penn State and then moved to Denver, where he worked for a residential tree care firm. But when his then-girlfriend moved to New York to attend FIT, Jared packed his bags and moved back east as well. The move turned out to be a good one. His girlfriend became his wife, and Jared secured a job with the Prospect Park Alliance.

Due to its climate and altitude, Brooklyn is able to support greater diversity of trees than Denver, which is much drier and sits a mile above sea level.  That means more varied tasks day in and day out. He enjoys the variety, and Jared considers himself very fortunate. “I work in the woods and I live in the greatest city in the world.”

Love Prospect Park’s trees? Learn more about our commemorative tree program.

The Prospect Park Alliance will receive $50,000 in funding from the New York City Council’s Greener NYC Initiative to support the Alliance’s Woodlands Youth Crew program. Speaker Mark-Viverito, Council Member Donovan Richards and the New York City Council awarded over $1 million dollars in funding to 26 organizations. The initiative supports environmentally friendly focused programs that encourage the improvement and conservation of New York City’s air, land, energy and open space.

Sue Donoghue, President of the Prospect Park Alliance, said, “Thanks to the City Council, this important funding will support the Prospect Park Alliance Woodlands Youth Crew, a unique initiative that employs local high school students to participate in Park restoration while learning about environmental preservation and future job opportunities. By countering erosion, removing invasive vegetation, and planting native plants, the Woodlands Youth Crew has given new life to some of the most damaged areas in Prospect Park.  Our thanks go to Speaker Mark-Viverito, Council Members Richards and Levine, and the entire City Council for their support.”

“New York City is committed to being a leader on environmentalism and sustainability on the city level,” said Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. “This initiative is part of the City Council’s ongoing commitment to making New York City greener and more environmentally friendly. Together we are moving in the right direction, and through the Greener NYC Initiative, we’re bringing every community across the city together to get there even faster.”

Check out our video to learn more about the Woodlands Youth Crew.

Janis Napoli, Prospect Park Alliance’s Horticultural Supervisor, is the Park’s flower guru. She oversees a team of four gardeners that care for its flowering plants. At first glance, Prospect Park seems to be dominated by trees and shrubs, but there are dozens of flowering plants throughout the landscape, including Park entrances and arches, and a few formal gardens, including Carmen’s Garden at the Litchfield Villa and the berms at Grand Army Plaza.

Janis has had a green thumb her whole life. She propagated plants as a teenager before earning a degree in Horticulture and a prestigious internship with the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Upon completion of her internship, Janis was offered the rare opportunity to become an Assistant Gardener, where she learned a great deal of the skills that Prospect Park benefits from today.

Janis joined the Alliance as Horticulture Supervisor last year, and handles her monumental task with aplomb. With a very small crew, she is responsible for the health and beauty of the all of the Park’s flowering plants, which are spread over 585 acres. As spring approaches, the horticulture crew tends to hundreds of acres of landscapes, with flowering trees to prune, paths to clear and bulbs to plant.

Even before this work begins, every plot must be carefully inspected and assessed. Janis and her team have a lot to consider when creating public floral spaces, such as access to sunlight, flowering behavior and the environment. She even examines aerial photos to learn how landscapes receive sunlight and shade throughout the year, and observes how visitors interact with the space. 

“Areas that are open to the public or are in highly trafficked throughways generally host hardier plants,” Janis explained, “while those that are protected by fencing or thick underbrush allow for more delicate blooms.” 

One of Janis’ favorite destinations in the Park is Carmen’s Garden, and one of her favorite flowering plants is Edgeworthia, or paper bush, which glistens in the sunlight all winter and blooms gorgeous creamy yellow buds in the spring. You can see these blossoms later this spring near the 9th Street entrance of the Park. Check out our spring bloom guide for other great spots to see the horticulture team’s work in action.

Many New Yorkers are surprised to learn that there is a thriving forest in the heart of Brooklyn. When the Alliance was first founded in the 1987, the woodlands were in a dire state, and in the mid-1990s the Alliance began an ambitious restoration of the heart of the Park’s woodlands, the Ravine. Monitoring the ecological health of the woodlands is an ongoing process, and is spearheaded by the Alliance’s Forest Ecologist Steven DiFalco. Steven joined the Alliance this past June, and continues the work of a long line of committed ecologists in this role.

Steven’s primary role is to monitor the health, height and growth of Prospect Park’s woodlands, which include trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants. It is a precarious balancing act of selecting the right native species to plant, and deciding exactly where to plant them to maintain a delicate ecosystem. This means choosing plants, shrubs and trees that will attract birds, repel invasive species and resist harmful insects. In the winter months, Steven analyzes data collected throughout the year, which helps the Landscape Management team decide what to plant and where, as well as spot early signs of disease.

“Some of the trees alone are more than a century old,” said Steven. “It’s extremely important that they receive proper care so they might be there for future generations.”

Steven recently settled into an apartment in Ditmas Park. He has always wanted to live and work in New York. His heart was set on working for an ecologically friendly non-profit organization, which to some sounded unlikely. Like many visitors who come to Prospect Park, Steven was astounded by what he found in Brooklyn’s 585-acre oasis.

“I was shocked by the number of ways that people used the Park,” he said, “I didn’t expect to see so many cyclists, joggers, hikers, soccer players and kids. Prospect Park is beautiful, but it’s the people that make it really special.”