Grants / Department of Agriculture / Forest Service

USDA-FS-UCF-010-2021: 2021 Urban and Community Foresty Challenge Cost Share Grant Program

Closed Closed April 16, 2021 Opportunity USDA-FS-UCF-010-2021 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. Who won this program's grants before is below, and similar open grants are at the end of the page. It is in our archive of Forest Service notices from 2021.

• Award ceiling$300,000
• Award floor$100,000
• Total funding$1.0 million
• Expected awards6
• Cost sharingRequired
• Funding typeGrant

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to nonprofits, colleges and universities, state and local governments and tribes.

More grants for nonprofits, colleges and universities, state and local governments, tribes.

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past Urban and Community Forestry Program awards averaged $294,511; this notice allows up to $300,000 per award.
• Most of the program's money (53% over five years) went to state and local governments.
• The notice requires cost sharing or matching funds, so you must contribute part of the project cost.

What the grant funds

The USDA Forest Service Urban & Community Forestry (U&CF) Program restores, sustains, and manages more than 140 million acres of urban and community forest lands for the benefit of communities in the United States. Healthy urban & community forests and green infrastructure are not only critical to all our nation’s forests, but also essential to the economic, environmental, physical, and mental well-being of our population. Increasingly, our urban and community forests are facing threats such as insects, diseases, extreme weather events and other hazards. Additionally, the lack of investment in urban forest disaster mitigation is contributing to community disasters such as urban flooding and human heat deaths in our cities-- disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations. New systemic solutions are needed to create and enhance green infrastructure in the right place and at the right scale and encompass pressing social, economic, ecological, and historic factors holistically. GRANT CATEGORIES (1) Increasing Resiliency of Urban Forests through Reforestation and Management The USDA Forest Service seeks innovative grant proposals for establishing climate resilient tree species in urban and community forests that are resistant to impacts of invasive pathogens, pests, and severe weather events. Applicants should consider long-term forest health as it aligns with species of choice, diversity, and genetic variation. Consider which species have proven as the most problematic over the last 20 years and which species have been the most reliable, problem-free and can withstand the climate impacts. Genetic diversity within a species will depart from single genotype cultivars, which may be aesthetically pleasing in the short-term, but offer less resilience as a biotic and abiotic events/agents factor into survival in the future and help to adapt to climate change by reducing exposures to future hazards, like increased heat waves or flooding. This approach will require implementing standard protocols to assess forest health and species resilience across the country and may include development of new tools to improve propagation, development, or management of urban tree plantings. Proposals that incorporate new or innovative planting protocols, with an emphasis on native tree species propagated from genetically diverse local seed sources, are encouraged.

Category: Natural Resources.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Agencies often post the same opportunity again under a new number, so check the program's notices on Grants.gov and the similar open grants below.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.