Moline Parks & Recreation receives grant for urban forest inventory

The City of Moline is getting ready to count their trees!

The city’s Parks and Recreation Department received a $6,000 matching grant to complete tree inventories and develop a management plan for its urban forest. The grant helps communities understand how to manage urban forest areas by showing the estimated number of trees, their size, condition and species. These inventories will also identify ways to increase planting and help develop a comprehensive, long-term urban forest management plan. The department used the grant to hire Great Lakes Urban Forestry Management in Batavia, Illinois to help create the management plan.

The grant came from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) Urban and Community Forestry Partner Grant Program and is administered by The Morton Arboretum and the Chicago Region Trees Initiative (CRTI).

“This is the first time the Moline Parks and Recreation has developed an urban forestry management plan, and this is going to be our work plan for the next 10 years. We are now tasked to start implementing the plan and strengthening our aging urban forest,” said Eric Griffith, Director of Parks and Recreation.

“Urban trees are critical infrastructure for a community, and this funding helps to protect one of its most important resources,” said Lydia Scott, director of CRTI. “Trees clean our air and water, reduce flooding and heat, improve our mental and physical health, and provide important habitat for birds and other wildlife.”

For more on the Moline Parks and Recreation Department, click here.

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