The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is taking applications now for a tree planting program that’s designed to benefit disadvantaged schools across the state.
Chip Murrow, an urban forestry program specialist at the DNR, says more than $100,000 is available through the program, with grants of $5,000 per public or private school.
“The way a school applies for them is they’re either in what’s considered a disadvantaged community in Iowa, which there’s 621 of those,” Murrow says, “or they have 25% or more free and reduced lunch programs.”
The grant money can be used to purchase trees, mulch and supplemental watering when school is not in session.
“We work with the schools to plant the trees using container-grown trees, so anything from a number five to a number 10, they’re the sizes that we look at,” Murrow says. “Those are good, sturdy trees. They’re big enough that they take up a little bit of landscape to start with, but not so big that kids can’t plant them.”
Murrow says schools do not need to put up matching funds for these grants, so it’s a win-win.
“Between the economic benefits of shading for cooling, and also wind protection in the winter to help with heating costs, there’s a lot of other benefits,” Murrow says. “We find that schools that have trees, children are more at ease and they test better.”
He says students are encouraged to get out in the schoolyard and help with the process of planting the trees.
“The foresters love coming out because that’s part of the program. We try and get a forester out there to help with the planting, do a planning demonstration and work with the kids. It’s a lot of fun,” Murrow says. “It also gives kids a chance to see what those of us at the DNR do in the forestry division, so they can ask us questions and talk to us about that.”
The program is being made possible through the DNR, the USDA Forest Service, and the National Association of State Foresters 2023 Inflation Reduction Act. The application and requirements are available online at www.iowadnr.gov/urbanforestry.