MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — Middletown was awarded a $300,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for planning and management of the city’s urban forest, along with tree removal and planting projects of public trees.
The grant is part of the Ohio Division of Forestry’s program aimed at purchasing and planting trees for the public’s benefit, restoring community tree canopy with large-stature trees and promoting species diversity, reducing stormwater runoff and more. More than $5.6 million was allocated across the State of Ohio as part of this grant program.
“Middletown is a designated Tree City USA community, and this grant allows us to achieve our goals of restoring natural beauty to our city’s parks and public areas,” Scott Tadych, Middletown director of public works, said. “We are excited by the opportunity presented to Middletown through this grant as we continue to commit to enhancing the quality of life in the city.”
Tree City USA is a national recognition program that began greening up cities in 1976. It’s sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and National Association of State Foresters.
Middletown has been recognized as a Tree City USA community for 14 years, every year since 2007, and also received a growth award each year since 2018.
Middletown’s proposed projects for the grant include a city-wide public tree inventory and risk assessment and the development of an urban forestry management plan.
All “on-the-ground” public tree projects proposed by the grant will take place in the 13 underserved census tracts within city limits as identified by the federal Council on Environmental Quality’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool. When determining the areas, that tool looked at several factors including the existing tree canopy cover, life span expectancy and health conditions in the census tracts.
Tadych said many of the areas identified are in the city’s western and southern areas in older parts of the city. However, a city-wide inventory and risk assessment will be conducted, which was a priority for the grant.
After that assessment is completed, they will work to get rid of trees that are high risk, begin pruning both young and old trees and do new planting with the goal of “one-to-one replant,” Natural Resources Coordinator Ali Manning said.
The work will take place on all public property and right of ways, which is the city’s responsibility.
Projects include addressing high-risk trees through removal and pruning, new tree plantings for each tree removed tree and pruning and training of young and mature trees. Projects must be completed by April 1, 2028.
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