Grant applications are now open for projects seeking to improve urban forests in Washington state through the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Urban Community Forestry Program (UCF).
Applications are due no later than on March 4, 2022 at 4 p.m. Projects are to be completed by June 1, 2023.
Grants are intended to support a wide range of projects that will improve the health of communities. House Bill 1216, which increased the amount of funding available for these grants, requires UCF to designate 50% of grant funding to highly impacted communities scoring eight or more on the Washington Environmental Health Disparities Map.
“Not only is this the largest pool of grant dollars our program has ever offered,” said UCF Program Manager Ben Thompson, “we have raised the maximum request to $40,000 per project, reduced the match requirement for projects benefitting highly impacted communities, expanded the overall scope of what can be funded and streamlined the application process. We are eager to fund projects to equip communities with the tools they need to be responsible stewards of their urban tree landscapes. If your community might benefit from this financial assistance, this is the year to apply.”
The grant application, along with a complete list of qualifying projects, can be found at http://www.dnr.wa.gov/urbanforestry.