Boston's Parks and Recreation Department (BPD) has planted 55 new trees on Beacon Hill during this year’s spring planting season.

The distribution of the 55 new trees is spread throughout Beacon Hill, with the highest concentration planted north of Pinckney Street. There are seven new trees on West Cedar Street and Cambridge Street and six planted on Revere Street.

The exact locations of each new tree are available to view on the Boston Tree Keeper website, marked with purple circles.

The contractor who planted the trees will be watering each new tree once every two weeks for the first two growing seasons, but the BPD has asked for local residents' help with filling the watering bags once a week.

During the hot summer months, a newly planted tree requires about 15 gallons of water twice a week. In milder weather, they need about 10 gallons a week per inch of trunk diameter. According to the City's "Caring For Street Trees" guide, newly planted trees are typically two inches in diameter.

Newly planted trees will come with one or two plastic watering bags on either side of the trunk. If the tree has one watering bag, it should be filled to the top once a week. For trees with two watering bags, fill each bag halfway once a week.

For trees with no watering bag, the city recommends a low pressure hose with a stream of water no thicker than a pencil for twenty minutes. The best time to water with or without a watering bag is in the early morning or late evening.

A primary health risk to trees new and established is dog urine. Ammonium and salt present in dog urine can burn the outer layer of tree bark and negatively impact the water absorption of surrounding soil. The BPD requests that pets be encouraged to mark inanimate objects, such as fire hydrants or streetlamps, rather than trees.

There are numerous benefits to public health and city infrastructure associated with healthy tree canopy coverage.

Tree canopy coverage has been shown to reduce air pollution and lower temperatures. Boston's Urban Forest Plan cites a study in New York City that showed a 29% decrease in asthma in young children after tree canopy was increased to 777 trees per square mile. Urban areas with low canopy coverage can also be 15° to 25°F hotter than nearby areas with high canopy coverage.

As of a 2022 Urban Forest Plan report, Beacon Hill's tree canopy coverage was 21%, lower than the citywide average of 27%.

The 55 new trees will help to increase canopy coverage in areas of Beacon Hill that were indicated as high priority zones in the 2022 report. This continues an upward trend in the neighborhood's tree canopy coverage, which increased by 6 acres from 2014 to 2019, the last year with full data available.

The areas were determined to be high priority by overlapping indicators that included broad areas exposed to the most heat impact and historic marginalization of areas that were subject to housing discrimination. A smaller area of Beacon Hill was also indicated high priority as an Environmental Justice Population, meaning low income and/or high minority populations.

If you have any questions about street trees or urban forestry issues, contact the BPD at (617) 635-8733 or trees@boston.gov.