Texas A&M Forest Service awarded over $4 million in grants to 18 Texas colleges and nonprofits this month, together with three in North Texas.
The Tarrant Regional Water District will obtain $20,000 in grant funding. The town of Burleson was awarded $20,000, and the New Fairview acquired $9,000.
Established in 2022, the Neighborhood Forestry Grants program offers funding to assist Texans tackle native challenges by city forestry investments and develop nature-based options that help more healthy, extra resilient, livable communities.
“Texas has 1.2 million acres of city and neighborhood tree cover, instantly impacting the well being and well-being of Texans,” mentioned Alison Fulton, Texas A&M Forest Service regional city ecologist. “With these grants, communities can strategically develop tree cover protection to assist scale back heat-related well being danger, enhance air and water high quality, and strengthen native infrastructure.”
Texas city and neighborhood tree canopies generate over $6.1 billion in annual ecosystem companies and supply important help for native economies and residents.
“These initiatives can even help financial progress by creating jobs, growing property values, and lowering public prices by stormwater administration and vitality financial savings,” mentioned Fulton.
The 2025 Neighborhood Forestry Grants program awarded grants in six classes. Every class addresses neighborhood wants by increasing and sustaining the tree cover.
One of many largest grant classes is the neighborhood greening transformation grant, which aids recipients in tree planting and giveaway occasions to offer a minimum of 5,000 bushes for his or her neighborhood to create placemaking by cover growth. This grant additionally offers tree care coaching to residents to higher handle the cover on their properties and lift the collective neighborhood’s information of forest administration.
Listed under are the opposite classes and recipients.
Neighborhood and greening transformations:
- Schooling Service Heart, Edinburg $1,181,667
- Metropolis of Pharr Parks and Recreation, $1,181,666
- Metropolis of Longview, $1,181,667
Neighborhood resilience:
- Austin Unbiased Faculty District, $50,000
Human well being enchancment and accessibility:
- El Centro de Corazon Neighborhood Well being Heart, Houston, $50,000.
Workforce growth:
- TreeFolks, Del Valle, $50,000
- Companions for Schooling, Agriculture, & Sustainability, Austin, $50,000
Tree planting and upkeep:
- Metropolis of Harlingen, $20,000
- Gardopia Gardens, San Antonio, $20,000
- Sewa Worldwide, Inc., Houston, $20,000
- The Path Conservancy, Austin, $17,968
- Greens Bayou, Houston, $20,000
- El Paso County, $20,000
- The Alief Tremendous Neighborhood Council, Houston, $20,000
Grants are reimbursement-based, and recipients will start their initiatives in August 2025.
Funding for the grants program is offered partially by the USDA Forest Service Neighborhood Forestry Program.
The Texas A&M Forest Service Neighborhood Forestry Program helps construct native capability for communities to develop sustainable applications that present Texans with wholesome bushes and forests. This program gives coaching, workshops, on-line programs, and help to native governments to assist handle city and neighborhood forests.
Be taught extra about neighborhood and concrete forestry in Texas right here: https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/forest-land/community-forestry/
