They say the best time to plant a tree was yesterday, and that the second-best time to plant a tree is today. With summer on the way, today might not be a great time to physically plant a tree, but it is a great time to plan a future planting! With that in mind, the Virginia Department of Forestry offers two grant programs that may assist one in their dreams to grow an urban forest. Those grants are Virginia Trees for Clean Water, or VTCW, and the newly-developed Riparian Forests For Landowners, or RFFL. I’ll give a brief overview of these two grants, but feel free to contact me if you’d like to learn more. Now, let’s grow!
Virginia Trees for Clean Water aims to help establish long-term urban canopies in order to improve water quality. This aim can be achieved through reforestation, afforestation, expansion of an existing canopy, tree give aways, planting riparian buffers, and otherwise planting trees in publicly accessible spaces. The grant covers projects between $1000 - $50000, and does include an expectation of cost-match, though that cost-match can be met in ways that aren’t just monetary. This is a great grant for communities, places of faith, local municipalities, public educational institutions, volunteer organizations, tribal organizations, nonprofits, civic groups, or any other sort of group that deals with helping improve publicly accessible land to look into. The beauty of a long-term urban canopy is in how it benefits the community as a whole, so whoever is heading the project needs to establish community engagement through outreach. There are some particulars about what is covered, and what isn’t covered, by the funding this grant provides. In short, the grant will help fund the costs associated with sourcing, planting, and maintaining a wide-variety of woody perennial plants. Other things, including but not limited to planting invasive species, planting herbaceous plants, snacks, tree removals, or equipment, aren’t within the scope of this grant’s funding. Applications for this grant are accepted year-round, although we do want at least 30 days before the proposed start date of the project in order to process the application.
Our other grant that may be of interest to folks in the District is Riparian Forests For Landowners. There have been some amazing success stories of programs that aim to establish riparian buffers on oftentimes large areas of land, but there haven’t been too many opportunities for smaller areas to receive grant funding. The Department hopes to change that with RFFL, which is a flexible riparian establishment program that comes with one year of maintenance, all at no cost to the landowner. This grant is open to eligible include, but are not limited to, streams, rivers, lakes/ponds/municipal water supplies, wetlands, fresh and saltwater marshes, irrigation ditches, canals, and other natural or man made water features. The buffer can be pine, hardwood, or a mixture of both, and the landowner must agree to maintain the buffer as a forest for at least 15 years. There can’t be more than 20% coverage by invasive species in the intended buffer area, as those invasive species would likely outcompete the buffer plants during their establishment period. This grant is funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, and we’re accepting applications until we run out of funds. We’re hoping to start work on projects by Fall of 2024, so now is the perfect time to reach out for more information!
If you’d like to learn more about these grant opportunities, either check our website at dof.virginia.gov, reach out to me at either daniel. brooks@dof.virginia.gov or (804) 887-9223, or catch me in person at the Colonial Soil and Water Conservation District’s monthly meetings. I’ll be happy to be of service! Trees are the answer to how we can start making a better future for ourselves and our loved ones, and the Virginia Department of Forestry is just one of many groups trying to help create that future. Hopefully the funding from these grants can assist you in making your dreams for a strong urban canopy come true! I hope you have great days, and thank you for all that you do.
Read more articles in the Summer 2024 CSWCD Newsletter.
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