DeKalb will plant 50 trees with help from grant

DeKALB – DeKalb city officials announced Friday plans to plant 50 more trees in the area, with help from a grant from The Morton Arboretum.

The $255,300 grant was awarded through the arboretum’s Chicago Region Trees Initiative, which works to improve community tree canopy, according to a news release.

Work is expected to be completed in 2025.

“We are very grateful to The Morton Arboretum for this generous grant to help make the DeKalb community more beautiful, sustainable and healthy,” DeKalb Mayor Cohen Barnes said in a release. “With the adoption of our Sustainability Plan last year, the City is committed to fighting climate change through support of renewable energy, projects to promote energy efficiency and the enhancement of green spaces. This grant to plant trees and protect the health of our mature trees is just one way we are doing that.”

The City of DeKalb updated its environmental sustainability plan in June 2024. The plan supports the creation of large solar farms locally, installation of new electrical vehicle charging stations and prioritizes new recycling initiatives.

The city’s plan highlighted goals for the next three to five years including plans for renewable energy, climate change, municipal operations, and ways to promote sustainable community, land use, public transportation, recycling and safe drinking water. The City’s Citizens Environmental Commission, created in 1991, headed efforts to update the plan.

For the arboretum grant, DeKalb was chosen along with 40 other nonprofits, government entities and other groups through the Inflation Reduction Act funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, according to a news release.

Communities that are deemed disadvantaged under federal requirements are eligible for the four-year grants, which don’t require matching funds, according to the city.

Funding can be used for projects that increase tree canopy, improve forest health and create or enhance community forestry programs.

City officials said 50 trees will be planted to improve air quality for residents and reduce greenhouse gases. The new trees will replace 40 dead trees which which the city has determined are safety hazards and will be removed.

The grant also will aid efforts to trim 738 parkway trees to promote healthier growth for community canopy, and will support more training for the City’s forestry team to improve their pruning skills, according to the release.

Other projects funded through the arboretum grant include tree planting, and building tree inventory and management plans in urban and rural areas.

“Improving the distribution of trees and green spaces directly impacts the health and economic outcomes for communities,” Chicago Region Trees Initiative director Zach Wirtz said in a news release. “Projects like this improve quality of life and boost the urban tree canopy’s resilience to threats posed by environmental conditions, pests and diseases.”