Supervisor points to riverbank tree-planting grants; cites $83,000 Lancaster award

A supervisor at the Westmoreland County Board meeting highlighted a state-backed riverbank tree-planting program and said one Lancaster County project received $83,000 in funding.

Committee member (S3) told colleagues that at a recent Rappahannock River Basin Commission meeting "1 person in Lancaster County got $83,000," and urged board members to spread the word to landowners with riverbank erosion issues. S3 described the forestry service's approach—sourcing trees from a nursery, planting them B&B (balled-and-burlapped), digging holes and providing moisture—and emphasized that trees are intended to protect banks from erosion caused by water or runoff.

S3 framed the program as unusually well funded compared with past assistance: "When I was growing up, the forestry service gave us, 50 trees and a wrap around brown bag..." and said the current program appears to provide significantly larger awards to individual projects. He urged anyone with eligible riverbank sites to consider pursuing the funding and said he wanted to bring the opportunity "to everybody's attention if there was somebody that could use that that had a spot that protection."

The transcript does not record any immediate administrative action or formal vote to pursue the grant; board members discussed sharing the information and confirmed they would raise it with appropriate staff.