The City of Bayfield and the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute are among 50 Wisconsin communities and nonprofit organizations that will share over $650,000 in urban forestry grants for 2006.
The City of Bayfield was awarded $6,000 and the Sigurd Olson Institute was awarded $25,000 to administer the urban forestry grant for the city of Washburn.
The latest grant makes a total of $100,000 in urban forestry grants awarded to the Institute by the Department of Natural Resources to handle the urban forestry programs of several communities.
The collaboration between the Institute and regional communities has resulted in an award from the Wisconsin Urban Forestry Council.
"We are pleased to receive the Project Partnership Award," said Mike Gardner, coordinator of cooperative education and research at the Institute. "As an organization we have worked creatively with regional communities to get urban forestry off the ground. It's wonderful to be formally recognized for these efforts," he said.
Wisconsin Governor James Doyle, in announcing the grants Friday, emphasized the importance of urban forestry.
"Stewardship of our urban forests is as important to the quality of life for those who live in urban areas as the management of our large public forests is," said Doyle. "Eighty percent of Wisconsin's population lives in communities where forests exist in the form of parks, greenways, schoolyards and backyards. These grants will provide funding to help local communities preserve and manage their green spaces that improve the quality of life for all who live there."
The grant given to the Sigurd Olson Institute to administer for Washburn is the largest allowable under the urban forestry program guidelines. According to Department of Natural Resources Secretary Scott Hassett, the grant will implement Washburn's first ever urban forestry plan including contracting with a qualified urban forester to make the plan a reality.
"Also the Sigurd Olson Institute will work with the Parks Pathways and Public Space Advisory Committee to encourage public participation and understanding of their urban forestry plan with events like Arbor Day, what the Tree City, USA designation is all about, also to work with communities in the region to set up collaborative urban forestry efforts," Hassett said.
Those efforts could include cost sharing on contract or equipment costs and other resources, he said.
The funds can be used for forestry and management plans as well as community tree inventories and could help in the development of vegetation ordinances, urban forestry staff training, tree boards and action groups. Also possibilities are tree health care plans, hazard tree inventories and planning for tree disease management, Hassett said.
Hassett said the benefits of urban trees should not be overlooked.
"Urban forests improve out environment and add to the quality of our urban settings," said Dick Rideout, coordinator of the DNR's urban forestry program. "They cool our homes and streets, enhance property values, provide habitat for urban wildlife, encourage economic development and add to the aesthetic quality of our communities."
The Sigurd Olson Institute's efforts in urban forestry reflect those realities, said Gardner.
"Area residents are striving for safe, healthy and beautiful communities," he said. "Our role has evolved to connect these diverse regional planning efforts with real outcomes."The Daily Press
