Tacoma City Council OKs state grant for urban forest program

October 9, 2013 1:55 pm
Tags: , , ,
A Catalpa tree looms over Frisko Freeze in Tacoma. The City of Tacoma was recently awarded a grant from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources to help fund the city's urban forestry program. (FILE PHOTO BY TODD MATTHEWS)
A Catalpa tree looms over Frisko Freeze in Tacoma. The City of Tacoma was recently awarded a grant from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources to help fund the city's urban forestry program. (FILE PHOTO BY TODD MATTHEWS)

Tacoma City Council approved a resolution Tuesday to accept a $10,000 grant from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources to help fund the city’s urban forestry program.

This is the third grant awarded by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources to the City of Tacoma in the past three years for urban forestry efforts. In 2010, Tacoma was awarded a $10,000 grant to assist with Tacoma Municipal Code revisions and stakeholder meetings related to the city’s urban forestry and open space programs, and a $20,000 grant to address the city’s inventory and strategic urban forest management plan related to Tacoma’s neighborhood business districts.

The latest grant will help offset the costs of tree planting projects around the city, such as the Hilltop Diversitree Project, which aims to plant more than 200 trees in Tacoma’s Hilltop Business District. The City of Tacoma will mark the beginning of the ambitious project during a tree planting ceremony on Fri., Oct. 11 at 1:30 p.m. at People’s Park, located at 900 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Way, in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood. Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland, Tacoma City Councilmember Lauren Walker, and the Washington Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmarkare scheduled attend the event, which includes a ceremonial tree planting. Additionally, City of Tacoma officials will mark Tacoma’s 19th year as a Tree City USA community, 10th year as a Tree Line USA community, and sixth year that the City of Tacoma has received a Growth Award from the Arbor Day Foundation.

During a city council meeting Tuesday to formally accept the grant, Mayor Strickland proclaimed Sat., Oct. 12 Arbor Day and Green Tacoma Day in Tacoma.

A Catalpa tree looms over Frisko Freeze in Tacoma. The City of Tacoma was recently awarded a grant from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources to help fund the city's urban forestry program. (FILE PHOTO BY TODD MATTHEWS)
A Catalpa tree looms over Frisko Freeze in Tacoma. The City of Tacoma was recently awarded a grant from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources to help fund the city’s urban forestry program. (FILE PHOTO BY TODD MATTHEWS)

To read the Tacoma Daily Index‘s complete and comprehensive coverage of Tacoma’s street trees, urban forest program, heritage trees, and other arbor-related activities, click on the following links:

Tags: , , ,