TESTIMONY
Emily Walker, Senior Manager of External Affairs at the Natural Areas Conservancy, on the Discrepancy Between NYC's Climate Goals and Park Budget Cuts
6:06:13
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146 sec
Walker testifies that despite NYC's ambitious climate budgeting initiative, the proposed FY25 parks budget represents the lowest proportion of funding for the agency in over 5 years.
- The budget cuts could lead to losing 80% of the natural areas workforce that manages forests and wetlands
- It could result in the loss of 50 urban park rangers who educate New Yorkers about natural areas
- The city will miss the opportunity to create new green jobs focused on improving trail accessibility
- Natural areas provide critical environmental benefits like absorbing carbon emissions and stormwater
- Actively funding natural area maintenance is crucial to combating climate change effects
Emily Walker
6:06:13
Alright.
6:06:13
Thank you.
6:06:14
My name is Emily Walker, and I'm the senior manager of external affairs at the Natural Area's conservancy.
6:06:19
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.
6:06:22
Last month's executive budget release was tied to the city's launch of an ambitious climate budgeting initiative.
6:06:27
In the mayor's announcement, he stressed that NYC's budget must work toward reducing emissions, enhancing air quality, increasing heat and flood resiliency, elevating environmental justice, and creating green jobs.
6:06:40
We applaud the city for taking this important step to ensure that we're making climate smart smart budgeting decisions, but the substance of the FY 25 executive budget for parks paints a starkly different picture about how the city is prioritizing the environment.
6:06:53
Despite the fact that the FY 25 exec budget is the largest ever proposed at $112,000,000,000.
6:07:00
The 582,000,000 allocated to parks represents the lowest proportion of funding for the agency in over 5 years.
6:07:07
Without action to restore the budget by June 30th, we will lose approximately 80% of the natural areas workforce who actively manage and care for our forests and wetlands.
6:07:17
We will lose 50 urban park rangers whose programming helps educate New Yorkers about the natural wonders that surround us, and we will again lose the chance to create dozens of new green jobs to make our trail system more safe and accessible despite the fact that this funding was named as a plan y c priority by the mayor last year.
6:07:33
Research consistently shows that the benefits of our natural areas providing to New Yorkers, all of which align with the mayor's budget climbing goals.
6:07:40
Our 4th did natural areas contain 5,000,000 of our city's 7,000,000 trees, which absorb a staggering 70% of the city's carbon emissions.
6:07:48
They also absorb as much storm water as $580,000,000 worth of new green infrastructure each year and can be up to 13 degrees cooler than our streetscapes during extreme heat events.
6:07:58
It's no exaggeration to say that our forests are the lungs of the city, and with this budget, we are starving them of oxygen.
6:08:04
These benefits can only exist if we are actively funding the care, maintenance, and programming of our natural natural areas.
6:08:11
If the city really means to combat the effects of climate change, the answer could not be clear invest in parks in natural areas.
6:08:17
The need to create green jobs and care for our local ecosystems is not just needed in the future.
6:08:22
It is urgently needed now.
6:08:23
Restoring the budget for parks will not only ensure that New Yorkers have access to parks that are clean, safe, beautiful, and resilient, but will also create hundreds of green jobs.
6:08:32
We urge the city council and the mayor to be true climate leaders and increase the funding for NYC Parks for the benefit of all New Yorkers.
6:08:38
Thank you.