Urban tree-planting initiatives have spent years convincing residents that planting trees leads to cleaner air and cooler streets. Now these programs are scrambling to adapt as federal funds are slashed. Leaders warn the cuts could impact how many trees get planted as well as existing canopies’ long-term health.

In February, the U.S. Forest Service informed recipients that it had canceled $75 million in federal tree-planting grants that the Arbor Day Foundation had administered. Funded by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, the grants focused on planting trees in disadvantaged communities. That made them a target of the Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

One grant recipient, Serve Ethiopians Washington, reported it has already been reimbursed for some of the roughly $365,000 it had been allocated for urban tree-planting programs to plant 230 trees in the Seattle area and distribute another 50 to residents. It had earmarked the rest of the funds for another 750 more tree distributions and for training neighborhood leaders to educate others about long-term tree maintenance, said Nagessa Dube, the nonprofit’s programs director.

Other tree-planting funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture have also been canceled, leaving some organizations stripped of multiple funds. The nonprofit Speak for the Trees, Boston lost $550,000 in Arbor Day Foundation-administered grants, meaning it can no longer hire 10 Bostonians to plant and care for trees in their neighborhoods. In early April, the organization also heard that its three-year, $250,000 urban forestry fellowship grant from the United States Forest Service was canceled, too, said David Meshoulam, the nonprofit’s founder.

Jana Davis, president of the Chesapeake Bay Trust, a Maryland-based nonprofit that makes environmental program grants to other organizations, said cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Government-to-Government program, which helps inexperienced nonprofits and municipalities apply for and manage federal grants, will also hurt urban tree-planting programs. The trust was helping three recipients learn how to guide other community groups through tree-planting grant applications, work that stopped short when funding was canceled a month ago, Davis said. Because many grants operate on reimbursements from their federal sources, the recent uncertainty has pushed Davis to ask the trust’s financial department to invoice some fund providers on a weekly instead of quarterly basis. “We’re so nervous now about the unknown and not knowing whether we have access to the money,” Davis said. “It’s very inefficient.”

Read the full article about urban tree-planting programs by Leslie Nemo at Smart Cities Dive.