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Tree-planting plans trimmed after IRA funding pulled; village still pursuing smaller grants and canopy study
Summary
Wellington staff said a federal Inflation Reduction Act grant that would have funded several hundred trees was withdrawn; some invasive-removal funds were spent and smaller grants and a $20,000 canopy-study award remain pending.
Wellington landscaping staff told the Tree Board that a previously awarded federal grant under the Inflation Reduction Act will no longer fund the planting work it had been intended to support.
“Originally it was $747,000 ... so we were going to plant a couple of hundred trees with that funding, but now that's not going to happen,” the landscaping superintendent said. He told the board $250,000 of the award had been spent on invasive-removal work and that the remainder was halted when the awarding agency rescinded further payments.
The superintendent said the grant had been a matching award but the match was waived because some project areas were designated disadvantaged; the board was told the federal match requirement had been removed when the waiver was granted.
Staff said they will continue applying for other grant opportunities. The landscaping superintendent listed several awards that are still expected or under negotiation: a $37,500 grant to replace landscape lost on Flying Cow Road after a tornado, a possible $50,000 planting award for Binks Forest subject to signed paperwork, and $20,000 awarded toward a canopy study (the town requested $30,000 and was awarded $20,000).
The board discussed the scale of recent plantings and noted that plantings on the Moncada property and other sites have begun but are “fairly sparse” without the fuller grant funding.
On the canopy study, staff said the last full study was done in 2007 and that the awarded $20,000 will allow for an updated analysis, though the village will not be able to afford an expensive LiDAR-based study. Staff said the vendor procurement and study start would follow receipt of signed documents, with an expected one-year timeline for completion after contract signing.
Ending: Staff will update the Tree Board with an exact count of trees planted under currently active projects and with the signed paperwork and schedule for the canopy study when those documents are in hand.
