In October 2023, the county board awarded 25 Healthy Tree Canopy grants totaling about $499,700. Grant recipients include 13 cities, two affordable housing properties, five schools, and five nonprofit organizations, including congregations and neighborhood associations. More than 620 trees will be planted through the grant projects.
The grants will:
- Fund the collection of data through tree inventories, which is critical to increasing and diversifying the tree canopy and starting to respond to emerald ash borer.
- Address the impacts of tree pests and pathogens by improving city forestry capacity and treating or replacing and replanting ash trees that are threatened by emerald ash borer. Grantees are required to plant at least one replacement tree for every ash tree removed.
- Educate residents on the benefits of trees and engage them in tree planting efforts.
- Improve livability and reduce disparities by planting trees in neighborhoods throughout the county experiencing disproportionate amounts of economic, environmental, and health inequities.
- Protect people and increase the county’s resilience to climate change – important goals in the county’s Climate Action Plan – by increasing the benefits that trees provide. These benefits include capturing carbon, reducing air pollution, and taking up stormwater, and providing shade to counteract the urban heat island effect.
Grants awarded to cities
Grants to cities fund tree inventories, help mitigate the effects of tree pests and pathogens, increase the capacity of city forestry programs, educate residents on the benefits of trees and engage them in tree planting efforts, and improve livability by planting trees in neighborhoods that face economic, environmental, and health disparities.
Brooklyn Center
$29,751.79 to remove 13 ash trees, and plant 55 replacement trees.
Brooklyn Park
$50,000 to remove 30 ash trees, stock a gravel-bed nursery with 60 bareroot trees, conduct emerald ash borer education, treat existing ash trees, and hold volunteer tree planting events to replace 30 ash trees.
Champlin
$19,807 to remove 35 ash trees, plant 35 replacement trees, and treat 35 ash trees.
Crystal
$50,000 to remove 10 ash trees and plant 40 replacement trees.
Eden Prairie
$45,269 to remove and replace 42 ash trees and create educational emerald ash borer signage for the public.
Excelsior
$22,596 to plant 27 trees, purchase treatment equipment, and train staff.
Medicine Lake
$5,000 to establish a city-wide tree inventory.
Minnetrista
$7,325 to establish a gravel-bed nursery.
New Hope
$33,000 to plant 75 trees to replace removed ash trees.
Orono
$33,150 to develop an urban tree management plan and an emerald ash borer management plan.
Plymouth
$20,500 to create an urban forest management plan.
St. Anthony
$21,030 to remove 20 ash trees and plant 25 replacement trees.
Wayzata
$24,963.82 to remove 35 ash trees and plant 40 replacement trees.
Grants awarded to affordable housing providers
Grants to affordable housing providers promote a more diverse, resilient, and equitable tree canopy by removing and replacing ash trees and planting new trees.
Boisclair Corporation
$20,000 to remove 10 ash trees and plant 12 replacement trees at Highlands in Bloomington.
Boisclair Corporation
$20,000 to remove 10 ash trees and plant 12 replacement trees at Penn Place in Bloomington.
Grants awarded to nonprofit organizations and schools
Grants to nonprofit organizations and schools are used to engage communities in planting trees, remove and replace ash trees, conduct tree-related education, complete tree inventories, and hold Arbor Day celebrations.
Church of St. Thomas the Apostle
$10,000 to remove 5 ash trees and plant 11 replacement trees
Bloomington Neighbors Nurturing Nature
$10,000 to conduct a tree inventory and create a tree management plan for Bloomington Public Schools
Independent School District 271
$10,000 to plant 43-70 trees on school property in Bloomington.
Independent School District 273
$10,000 to remove 10 ash trees and plant 10 replacement trees at Concord Elementary School in Edina.
Independent School District 273
$10,000 to remove 14 ash trees and plant 14 replacement trees at Normandale Elementary School in Edina.
Independent School District 273
$10,000 to remove 4 ash trees and plant 4 replacement trees at South View Middle School in Edina.
Missions
$9,990 to remove 4 ash trees and plant 6 replacement trees in Plymouth.
Special School District 1
$10,000 to plant 49 trees across 9 different school properties in Minneapolis.
Tree Trust
$10,000 to hold an educational event and plant 30 trees at a Bloomington school.
Vibrant and Safe Downtown
$9,341 to water 250 newly planted trees in Minneapolis.