Mulch Metrics
Mission: Bring New Yorkers together to rewild NYC

🪴 Current active members: 1,625
💬 Join the groupchat (Discord) here
🎉 Upcoming events will be posted here.

Events

Let’s start with events this time - we have a Mulch event coming up!

Sip teas under the trees while crafting seed bombs with native wildflower seeds! Connect with fellow nature lovers and take home your own bit of guerrilla garden magic.

Free event! All materials provided.

Perfect for tea lovers, urban gardeners, and anyone wanting to green NYC! ✨

Make sure to RSVP here. The event will be capped at 30 people.

Case Study - What Can We Learn from Montreal?

We have access to a global community to learn and find inspiration, so why not take a look at what other cities are doing? Montreal’s rewilding efforts offer a pragmatic, community-first blueprint for cities aiming to restore biodiversity and deepen nature connection.

1. Championing Pollinators—The Butterflyway Project

Across Canada, and notably in Montreal, the David Suzuki Foundation’s Butterflyway Project empowers residents to create pollinator-friendly habitats right in their neighborhoods. Through planting native wildflowers, grasses, and shrubs, volunteers have established over 7,400 habitat gardens, planting more than 100,000 native flowers and 3,000 trees between 2017 and 2024.

Lesson for NYC: Community gardeners and clubs like ours could organize neighborhood planting drives or collaborate with local organizations to build a similar grassroots pollinator corridor.

2. Backyard Biodiversity—The “Yard-by-Yard” Campaign

Montreal West’s local Environmental Action Committee spearheads the Yard-by-Yard Campaign, encouraging residents to swap portions of lawn for native, pollinator-supportive plantings. The initiative also engages the community through workshops, seedling giveaways, and contests—with expert guidance from urban ecology specialists to boot Montreal West.

Lesson for NYC: A block-by-block lawn-to-wildflower model, paired with local neighborhood stewards could get communities feeling healthier and attracting more pollinators. We don’t have to wait for the city to do it, we can take this into our own hands.

3. Ruelles Verts—Green Alleyways

“The back alleys of most cities are ugly, collecting puddles and trash. In Montreal, by contrast, they’ve been growing into surprisingly lovely neighborhood hubs, and more than 250 blocks of them have recently banded together as official Ruelles Vertes, or green alleyways. They feature gardens that give residents leafy space for trick-or-treating, block parties, pop-up restaurants and more. Now the alleys are not only providing gathering places, but also giving visitors back-door peeks into Montreal’s daily life.” - NY Times Article

Lesson for NYC: Let’s utilize every inch of space we’ve got, from front yard to back alleys. Activating alleys into green spaces makes them safer, enjoyable, and biodiverse.

4. Local to Global—The Montréal Pledge and Urban Nature Accelerator

Montreal plays a global leadership role in urban rewilding. At United Nations COP15, the city helped craft the Kunming–Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework and introduced the Montréal Pledge, committing local governments to replicate 15 tangible biodiversity actions. These efforts position urban rewilding and nature-based solutions as essential strategies for climate resilience and human well-being.

Lesson for NYC: Positioning citywide green projects as part of international or national biodiversity pledges could elevate visibility.

5. Accessible Nature Everywhere, Because Tree Equity Matters!

Montreal emphasizes reconnecting citizens with nature. Tools like the Montreal Nature Guide help residents discover and engage with nearby wild spaces. Such initiatives support public access to urban ecosystems as valuable community assets.

Lesson for NYC: A digital or print guide highlighting lesser-known park habitat features, pocket forests, or wildlife corridors could foster greater nature discovery among residents, even in dense urban areas.

So, what do you all think? Which of these lessons should the Mulch community take from Montreal and champion in our own communities? Join the conversation on Discord and let us know!

Community Spotlight

As the heat of the summer finally starts to let up, we’re noticing all sorts of rebounds from our plants! Shoutout to Jenn, whose partridge peas are seeding - look at those gorgeous blooms 😍

Also, remember earlier this year when Mayank sent out a bunch of seeds to a bunch of you to get some native plants growing in tree beds? I don’t know about you all, but I’ve been seeing these plants taking over everywhere in my neighborhood!

It’s so delightful to walk around and see signs of the Mulch community, even if I may not recognize your faces.

Speaking of which, Mulch member @bianavarga shared with us such an informative and inspiring Instagram reel about the Greenest Block in Brooklyn! Not going to lie, every time I’m in this neighborhood, I get a bit competitive. I want my own block to be like this one!

nofomomama

117 followers

View more on Instagram

That’s it for this week.

Make sure to join the conversation on Discord to share your own rewilding efforts, get tips from the community, and to find events in your area.

See you out there — one garden at a time 🌱 🪴

The Mulch Team