When we opened applications for the largest Urban and Community Forestry grant funding cycle in agency history late last fall, we knew 2022 would be a banner year for our annual grant program, and the DNR UCF team is beyond excited to congratulate the 21 new projects that have been selected to receive funding this cycle!
We received 37 applications requesting a whopping total of $957,000 across two funding pools. Of the $550,000 available – the largest amount offered by UCF for a single grant cycle, we will award 16 projects totaling $405,893 for tree inventories, canopy analyses, management plans, and other similar planning tools. The remaining $143,425 will go to five projects oriented around tree planting, restoration, outreach, education, training, and maintenance work.
Three applications (from Duvall, Everett, and Snohomish) will support the DNR’s Watershed Resilience Plan in Water Resource Inventory Area 7 (WRIA 7), and six applications (WSU, Pierce County, The Lands Council, Everett, Lynnwood and Vancouver) are deemed “Environmental Justice” (EJ) projects for their support of highly impacted communities –census blocks that score an eight or more on the Washington Environmental Health Disparities Map. These applications are noted as such in the table below which includes a summary of all awarded applicants and their projects.
Award Recommendations:
$450k Pool* – Tree Management (inventory, assessment, analysis, prioritization, planning, etc.)
| Applicant | Funding Request | Match | Location | Description |
| Snohomish | $20,000 | $20,375 | Snohomish | WRIA 7 award. Comprehensive street and park tree inventory |
| Olympia/Thurston | $40,000 | $40,000 | Thurston county | Tree canopy analysis for Thurston County and all incorporated Thurston County cities |
| Mountlake Terrace | $31,400 | $31,400 | Mountlake Terrace | Tree canopy analysis and planting plan, creation of outreach materials |
| Everett | $39,250 | $37,300 | Everett | EJ award. WRIA 7 award. Tree inventory and creation of new interdepartmental UCF program |
| Twisp | $7,425 | $7,322 | Twisp | Updated UCF management plan and planting plan for the town |
| Lynnwood | $40,000 | $36,300 | Lynnwood | EJ award. Comprehensive canopy analysis of city parks, mapping invasive species cover, creation of a UCF management plan for parks. |
| Tumwater | $25,000 | $58,200 | Tumwater | Creating a comprehensive street tree plan |
| Gig Harbor | $39,500 | $54,500 | Gig Harbor | Street tree inventory and creation of comprehensive UCF program and management plan. |
| Millwood | $20,000 | $25,648 | Millwood | Comprehensive street tree inventory and UCF management plan |
| Sammamish | $36,900 | $36,900 | Sammamish | Street and Park Tree Inventory |
| Vancouver | $20,000 | $29,540 | Vancouver | EJ award. Update to urban forest management plan |
| Lynden | $20,000 | $20,000 | Lynden | Forest management plan for a newly acquired park/natural area. |
| Medina | $9,928 | $9,928 | Medina | Comprehensive street and park tree inventory |
| Evergreen State College | $17,290 | $17,816 | Olympia | Community outreach and forest management plan for the campus |
| Lake Forest Park | $14,200 | $14,214 | Lake Forest Park | Evaluation of tree removal trends and landscape change |
| College Place | $25,000 | $25,557 | College Place | Street tree inventory |
| Total | $405,893 | EJ total: $99,250 |
$100k Pool* – Other UCF Work (ordinances or policy, planting, restoration, outreach, education, training, and maintenance work)
| Applicant | Funding Request | Match | Location | Description |
| WSU | $40,000 | $20,000 | Tacoma | EJ award. Sooty bark disease vulnerability study in Tacoma |
| Pierce County | $37,200 | $32,360 | Parkland | EJ award. Tree planting and outreach in an highly impacted community |
| Underwood CD | $18,375 | $18,375 | Bingen & White Salmon | Outreach on invasive Tree of Heaven as a vector for the invasive Spotted Lanternfly pest. Removal and replacement of Tree of Heaven |
| The Lands Council | $32,500 | $30,325 | Spokane | EJ award. Tree planting and outreach in an highly impacted community |
| Duvall | $15,350 | $15,350 | Duvall | WRIA 7 award. Strengthening Duvall’s ordinance about tree protection during development |
| Total | $143,425 | EJ total: $109,700 |
*Applicants may notice we awarded less than what was available in the larger pool and more than what was available in the smaller one. Unfortunately, some projects in the $450K were determined to be un-fundable for various reasons, which meant that we could shift those under-awarded funds to support some really fantastic projects from the 100K pool that might not have otherwise been funded.
Urban and community Forestry in Washington State 