---
title: "Climate Adaptive Planting Palettes for New York City Metro Region"
slug: "climate-adaptive-planting-palettes-for-nyc"
tags: ["urban climate resilience", "master plan", "climate adaptation", "new york city", "urban forest plan", "climate change"]
updated: 2025-09-29T14:32:01Z
published: 2025-09-29T14:32:01Z
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://fic.naturalareasnyc.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Climate Adaptive Planting Palettes for New York City Metro Region

The [Forest Identification and Restoration Selection Tool (FIRST)](https://naturalareasnyc.org/nyc-forest-restoration-tool/) was developed by the Natural Areas Conservancy in New York City as part of a bigger project to create climate-adaptive planting palettes for urban forest restoration projects. The tool leads the user through a dichotomous key to identify species that are appropriate for ecological restoration and resilient to future climate conditions.

### In a nutshell, this resource offers:

- Planting palettes, community types, and species lists for ecological restoration projects in the New York City metro area.
- Climate-resilient options for planting projects, using suitable tree habitat projects from the [US Forest Service Climate Change Tree Atlas](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nrs/atlas/tree/).

### How to use this resource:

- As a handy way to identify forest types while in the field, according to the [New York Natural Heritage Program](https://www.nynhp.org/).
- As a reference to help identify species that are appropriate to the current habitat and projected to be resilient in future climate scenarios.

**Author:**Natural Areas Conservancy

**Date published:**2019

**P****oint of contact:**Helen Forgione, Senior Ecologist, Natural Areas Conservancy, [helen.forgione@naturalareasnyc.org](mailto:helen.forgione@naturalareasnyc.org)

[Resource is available online here](https://naturalareasnyc.org/nyc-forest-restoration-tool/).

[![](https://cdn.document360.io/18a9acd7-787d-47fa-9b54-01592bb1d507/Images/Documentation/image-1630439996663.png)](https://naturalareasnyc.org/content/climate/first-tool/#/)A screen capture of the Natural Area Conservancy's Forest Identification and Restoration Selection Tool (FIRST). Click on the image, or the link above, to use the tool. 

##

## Related

- [Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change in the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area](/adaptive-silviculture-climate-change-mississippi-nationa-river-recreation-area.md)
- [Climate Adaptation Actions For Urban Forests And Human Health](/climate-adaptation-actions-urban-forests-human-health.md)
- [Planning for Climate Change Through Riparian Restoration in Houston, Texas](/planning-climate-change-riparian-restoration-houston-texas.md)
- [Long-term Outcomes of Forest Restoration in a New York City Park](/long-term-outcomes-forest-restoration-nyc-park.md)
- [Monitoring Forest Restoration Activities in New York City Parks](/monitoring-forest-restoration-activities-nyc-parks.md)