Groups across the United States will receive a total of $1.1 billion to plant and maintain trees in cities and towns to combat extreme heat and mitigate climate change, announced the Biden administration on Thursday. “We’ve never had the opportunity to provide resources at this level,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
The U.S. Forest Service, usually associated with vast rural woodlands, will provide the money through its Urban and Community Forestry Program. It is part of $5 billion earmarked for the agency in the 2022 climate, healthcare, and tax law for climate change work.
Some 385 projects were funded. The largest award was $22.9 million to the Oregon Department of Forestry for a program to grow “equity in Oregon’s urban and community forests.” Kupu, a conservation organization in Hawaii, received $20 million to use “arboriculture to limit vulnerability in urban and community areas.” In Vilsack’s home state of Iowa, Cedar Rapids was awarded $6 million for its ReLeaf program to recover from a derecho that damaged 80 percent of the city’s trees in 2020. Lebanon, New Hampshire, was awarded $244,275 for its green streets initiative.
“This program was incredibly popular,” said Vilsack during a teleconference on Wednesday. It attracted 842 applications proposing projects worth a combined $6.4 billion.
Administration officials said the forestry projects would increase urban access to nature, improve air quality, reduce street temperatures during hot weather, and respond to climate change. Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said a key objective was to expand access to green space in underserved communities. “This investment will create not just greener cities — it will create healthier and more equitable cities,” said White House clean energy adviser John Podesta in a statement.
The program was open to applications from groups including community-based organizations, tribes, state and local governments, nonprofits, and universities.
With 30,000 employees, the Forest Service manages 193 million acres (302,000 square miles) of national forests and grasslands, an area the size of Texas.