In August 2025, the county board awarded 26 Healthy Tree Canopy grants totaling $500,000. Grant projects will take place in nine cities, on two affordable housing properties, at four schools, and through eleven nonprofit organizations, including congregations and neighborhood associations. More than 930 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
$25,912 to remove 12 ash trees and plant 40 trees.
Brooklyn Park
$50,000 to update public tree inventory, remove and replace 35 ash trees, and a reforestation project.
Champlin
$22,942 to remove ash trees and plant 40 trees.
Crystal
$50,000 to conduct disease tree removal and replacements on public property across five neighborhoods of Becker, Lions Park, Broadway, Skyway, and Twin Oaks.
Eden Prairie
$37,933 to conduct oak wilt management, which includes removing and replacing infected trees, at Staring Lake Park.
Excelsior
$33,150 to update public tree inventory, tree preservation ordinance, and conduct disease treatments.
Golden Valley
$32,240 to remove up to 30 ash trees and plant 70 trees at Pennsylvania Woods Nature Center.
New Hope
$25,000 to remove 50 ash trees and plant 50 replacement trees.
Plymouth
$43,704 to update the public tree inventory using a smart tree inventory.
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
- $20,000 to remove and replace 11 ash trees at Bass Lake Crossing in New Hope.
- $20,000 to remove and replace 9 ash trees at Kings Manor in New Hope.
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.
Fraser
$14,795 to remove and replace four ash trees and conduct tree-related education at two Fraser locations.
North Loop Neighborhood Association
$7,500 to plant 300 trees restoring an area along the Mississippi Riverbank.
Osseo Area Schools – ISD 279
$19,667 to remove and replace 12 ash trees at Basswood Elementary Schools and 18 ash trees at Rush Creek Elementary School.
Parnassus Preparatory School
$10,000 to remove and replace 16 ash trees and conduct tree-related education.
River Walk Estates Homeowners
$10,000 to remove and replace seven ash trees.
Spark-Y
$7,557 to plant a fruit tree orchard and conduct tree-related education at Edison High School.
Special School District 1
$10,000 to plant 49 trees at nine different schools across Minneapolis Schools.
The Church of St. Edward
$10,000 to remove and replace five ash trees.
Tree Trust
$10,000 to plant up to 30 trees at a school and conduct tree-related education.
Trust for Public Land
$10,000 to plant 94 trees and conduct tree-related education at Brooklyn Center Elementary School.
Vibrant and Safe Downtown
$9,600 to water newly planted street and park trees in collaboration with Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.
Young Men’s Christian Association
$10,000 to remove and replace 12 ash trees throughout campgrounds in Loretto.
Zintkala Luta
$10,000 to install a fruit tree orchard and gravel bed nursery in North Minneapolis at the Sacred Tree Garden.
