Healthy Tree Canopy grants awarded in 2021
In September 2021, the county awarded 21 Healthy Tree Canopy grants totaling about $404,000. Grant projects will take place in nine cities, on 10 affordable housing properties, at four schools, and through five nonprofit organizations, including congregations and neighborhood associations. More than 1,000 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. Most of the grants awarded are within medium and high priority planting areas on the county’s tree planting prioritization map.
- 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.
Bloomington
$9,255 to plant up to 40 trees.
Brooklyn Park
$50,000 to create tree planting plans at public facilities, plant 135 trees in various parks, treat 150 to 200 ash trees, and purchase a water trailer.
Champlin
$17,718 to work in four parks in south central Champlin to remove ash trees, treat ash trees, and replant 40 replacements trees.
Eden Prairie
$43,949 to plant 175 trees in various parks, treat high priority ash trees, and remove 100 trees.
Greenwood
$1,875 to conduct a public ash tree inventory, which will be completed by a consultant.
Hopkins
$44,660 to remove 75 ash trees and plant 85 replacement trees.
Minnetonka
$20,700 to plant 120 trees, treat ash trees, build a gravelbed nursery, and construct educational kiosks in three city parks and on five cityowned properties.
New Hope
$15,000 to plant 40 trees throughout the city to replace ash trees.
Wayzata
$8,500 to upload and update a volunteer-led tree inventory into the Hennepin County tree app and treat 24 ash 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.
Aeon
$90,591, including $7,003 for gravel-bed trees and Sentencing to Service crew and the rest for projects on various properties:
- Bass Lake Crossing in New Hope: remove three dead or infected ash trees and plant three replacement trees.
- Cedar Gate Apartments in Bloomington: remove three dead or infected ash trees and plant three replacement trees.
- Cedar Glen Apartments in Bloomington: remove eight dead or infected ash trees and plant eight replacement trees.
- Kings Manor in New Hope: remove 10 dead/infected ash trees and plant 10 replacement trees.
- Lynwood Pointe in Brooklyn Center: remove 10 dead or infected ash trees and plant 10 replacement trees.
- Masada Manor in Bloomington: remove 10 dead or infected ash trees and plant 10 replacement trees.
- Met Towers in Bloomington: remove 10 dead/infected ash trees and plant 10 replacement trees.
- Nicollet Court in Bloomington: remove five dead or infected ash trees and plant five replacement trees.
Amorce I Limited Partnership in Brooklyn Park and Bloomington
$20,000 to remove 17 ash trees at Brook Gardens and The Highlands and plant 17 replacement trees.
Autumn Ridge Limited Partnership LLC in Brooklyn Park
$20,000 to remove 18 ash trees and plant 18 replacement trees at Autumn Ridge Apartments.
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.
Eden Prairie Independent School District 272
$8,940 to replant 82 replacement trees where ash trees have been previously removed.
ISD 287 Ann Bremer Education Center in Plymouth
$3,720 to plant 20 trees throughout school grounds with students leading the project.
Nativity Lutheran Church in St. Anthony Village
$3,426 to remove two ash trees and plant 19 trees for habitat creation and replacing canopy loss.
Robbinsdale ISD 281 New Hope Learning Center
$4,819 to expand outdoor learning environment and add 13 new trees for a diverse tree canopy.
ServeMinnesota in Minneapolis
$10,000 match funds for one full-time Community Forestry Corps member to serve with the City of Minneapolis Health Department, focusing on reducing disparities in tree canopy.
Special School District 1 Minneapolis Public Schools
$9,756 to replace 50 trees that have been removed due to emerald ash borer.
St. Anthony East Neighborhood Association in Minneapolis
$7,720 to remove seven remaining green ash trees in Community Commons Park and replace with 10 trees of diverse species.
St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Richfield
$9,302 to remove seven ash trees, plant 26 new trees, and conduct tree-related education.
St. Thomas the Apostle in Minneapolis
$5,041 to remove 10 ash trees and replant 10 replacement trees.