Trees in Midtown? Brooklyn Ecologist Wants to Bring Pop-Up Forest to Times Square

Former Parks Department plant ecologist Marielle Anzelone hopes to launch the ambitious project by May 2018

What to Know

  • A Brooklyn-based ecologist is trying to bring a pop-up forest to Times Square by May 2018
  • The forest would incorporate sounds of nature, 30-foot tall trees, ferns and wildflowers throughout public plazas
  • The pop-up would take place at West 45th and 47th Streets and Broadway and Seventh Avenue

Towering trees, lush plants and leafy ferns could take over the concrete jungle as part of a pop-up forest in Times Square's public plazas.

The PopUP Forest is the brainchild of Brooklyn-based urban ecologist Marielle Anzelone, who hopes to make her dream of transforming the Crossroads of the World into a wooded wonderland by May.

Anzelone has been working to bring more plants to public plazas for over three years, starting with three 2013 bills intended to boost New York City's biodiversity.

She and a team would bring mosses, grasses, 30-foot tall trees, wildflowers and shrubs from local nurseries around the boroughs to the plazas at West 45th and 47th Streets on Broadway and Seventh Avenue, DNAInfo reports.

"The experience should feel like you are in the woods," the former Parks Department plant ecologist told the website. "I want people to walk through it and forget, for maybe 30 seconds, that they're in the middle of Manhattan."

"Pop-up forest rangers" will guide onlookers through the forest while answering questions about the various plant species on display. Anzelone also wants to incorporate bird calls and other natural sounds collected from a nearby park area.

The PopUp Forest's Kickstarter page, created in March 2015, reached its $40,000 goal almost exactly a month after its launch.

As all good things must end, the forest would be dismantled after two weeks in Times Square. The greenery will then be distributed to public schols citywide, she told the website.

The Times Square Alliance, who she has collaborated with in the past, confirms that they are reviewing the project.

Anzelone hopes to launch the pop-up woodland by May 2018. She says the pop-up isn't meant to slight Times Square, but to draw attention to the lack of environmental justice in the City.

"Nature shouldn't just be getting on the subway and going to Prospect Park. For a family of five, that round trip is pretty expensive," she said. "I want to see nature outside everyone's window."

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