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Parks department outlines native-planting, orchard and Bear Creek funding updates
Summary
Carmel parks staff described multiple native-planting initiatives, orchard plantings and pending grant applications, and asked the climate committee to link dashboard items to the parks project pages; council approved $8 million in bonds for Bear Creek park development.
Parks department staff updated the Carmel Climate Action Advisory Committee on native-planting initiatives, orchard plantings and grant status for Bear Creek Park during the Jan. 28 meeting.
Key updates - The parks department said it planted about 100 fruit and nut trees at Founders Park and has applied for additional grants to expand orchards on the city’s west side at Bear Creek or West Park. - Staff asked the advisory committee to link the parks web page and Bear Creek master-plan materials to the climate-action dashboard so residents can find park-specific updates; committee members supported the request. - The parks department said it applied for a Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) grant requesting about $1,000,000 to help develop Bear Creek Park; staff said the state-level DNR process delayed notifications and the award decision remained pending as of the meeting. - City council has allocated $8,000,000 in bonds toward Bear Creek’s phase‑one development, and parks staff said they are preparing schematic designs for that phase.
Why this matters: parks naturalization and tree-planting were discussed as drought-resilient landscape practices that reduce mowing and irrigation, provide habitat, and can lower maintenance carbon emissions. Staff noted converting turf and medians to native plantings is a larger citywide initiative that may require public outreach and coordination with elected officials.
Next steps Parks staff will add links and content to the dashboard highlighting tree-planting and mitigation projects, provide percentage estimates of naturalized park acreage versus turf, and return to the committee with more project-level details.
