Minneapolis uses $1 million in federal funds to add 200,000 trees

Minneapolis is dedicating $1 million in American Rescue Plan funds to increasing the city tree cover.

The cash will jump-start the Inexperienced Minneapolis Local weather Resiliency Initiative aim so as to add 200,000 bushes by the yr 2040. Metropolis and Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board officers introduced the initiative Monday alongside Elmer the Elm Tree, the official mascot of the Forestry Division since 1976.

Minneapolis acquired $271 million below the 2021 pandemic aid regulation, and Mayor Jacob Frey pitched a plan in April to make use of the remaining $43 million on violence prevention, housing and psychological well being providers.

Federal lawmakers handed American Rescue Plan Act to help native authorities businesses with the financial fallout of the pandemic, and cities throughout Minnesota acquired $500 million to make use of in a wide range of methods. Edina allotted $400,000 to a college district program, the Edina Schooling Fund’s Heal Collectively Marketing campaign, and a brand new program to plant 100,000 bushes.

Tree cover will not be solely aesthetically and environmentally helpful, however it additionally leads to massive financial savings for owners and town. In response to analysis by the Park and Recreation Board, every Minneapolis taxpayer saves about $100 a yr from bushes on public property. That is as a result of these bushes course of 200 million gallons of water yearly, netting practically $6 million in storm water administration price financial savings.

The partnership among the many metropolis, Park and Recreation Board and Inexperienced Minneapolis is a part of Inexperienced Minneapolis’ Twin Cities Local weather Resiliency Initiative, centered on increasing the city tree cover throughout the seven-county Twin Cities metro space.