PRESS RELEASE - City of Port Townsend Prioritizes Our Urban Tree Canopy

City celebrates two awards of U.S. Forest Service Urban Forestry Grants and is providing free trees to the community with Autumnal Arbor Day on Sunday, October 8.

PORT TOWNSEND - The City of Port Townsend has been awarded two significant U.S. Forest Service grants for planning and development of the City’s urban tree canopy. The Urban & Community Forestry Future Grant and the Climate & Economic Justice Grant for the Castle Hill Neighborhood will provide nearly $500,000 towards the development of an Urban Forestry Plan and to add trees to a neighborhood in the community. Both projects center the urban tree canopy’s restoration, provide a buffer for climate resilience, and provide green stormwater infrastructure. Port Townsend’s native trees and shrubs also support birds and other wildlife with food and habitat.

The U.S. Forest Service is making a $1.5 billion investment in urban forests across the nation, saying, “Trees make a difference. Studies show that communities with access to trees and green spaces are associated with improved health outcomes, reduced crime, lower average temperatures, and an influx of other kinds of investments and new economic opportunities.”

The grants are timely as Port Townsend has been a Tree City USA for 22 years and is celebrating Autumnal Arbor Day this month. Governor Inslee has declared the month of October to be Urban and Community Forestry Month, and autumn is the recommended time to plant trees and shrubs in our climate.

Everyone from the community is invited to adopt a young native tree or shrub to plant in their gardens, in celebration of Autumnal Arbor Day 2023. The City of Port Townsend, through the Parks, Recreation, Trees and Trails Advisory Board, will offer a young native tree or shrub per person for adoption as long as supplies last on Sunday, October 8. Stop by the Mountain View Commons parking lot at 1925 Blaine Street between 12:00 noon and 2:00 p.m., to pick out a tree or shrub. Volunteers and Parks Staff will have Sitka spruce, shore pine, Western larch, red twig dogwood, Douglas hawthorn, Western crabapple, twinberry, Woods' rose, salmonberry, viburnum, and possibly other native species. All are grown from bare root stock from the Washington State Conservation District.
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For more information on the Urban Forestry Grants:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/urban-forests/ucf/2023-grant-funding

For more information on the Tree City USA program:
https://www.arborday.org/programs/treecityusa/