Northeast Tree Tenders founder Hasan Malik explains to volunteers how to properly plant this tree in front of the Northeast Older Adult Center on Bustleton Avenue.

Hasan Malik started the Northeast Tree Tenders three years ago because he was tired of looking at all the bare concrete on the streets of Northeast Philadelphia.

Most of Philadelphia’ s full-grown trees were planted 60 to 70 years ago, said Malik, a Northeast native and Temple University student of civil engineering. And if they haven’t died yet, they are reaching the end of their lives and will have to be replaced soon.

The only problem is that no one is replacing them.

Since trees offer so many benefits to a community, like reducing pollution, raising commercial and private property values, improving health, reducing summer energy costs and preventing flooding, Malik said it was important to him to replace the dying trees.

Although there were other tree tender groups in the Northeast at the time, like Holmesburg Tree Tenders, and the Tacony Tree Tenders, these groups only covered a small area. Malik filled the void by starting a group that covered the entire Northeast.

Encompassing 11 zip codes, The Northeast Tree Tenders covers more area than any of the other 41 tree tender groups throughout Philadelphia.

The group has planted more than 300 trees since 2008. At this year’ s spring planting alone, the Tree Tenders planted 50 trees over seven different zip codes. continue reading »