Historic investment in urban trees underway across the U.S.

By SUSAN HAIGH
Associated Press

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A historic amount of money is being spent on urban tree planting and maintenance in underserved, often concrete-covered neighborhoods across the country. Urban forestry advocates, who’ve argued for years about the benefits of more trees in cities, see this moment as a huge opportunity to permanently transform neighborhoods where residents have grappled with dirtier air, dangerously high temperatures and other challenges because they don’t have a leafy canopy overhead. President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act includes $1.5 billion in grants over the next decade for urban trees while there’s also money for projects included in Biden’s infrastructure law and the American Rescue Plan Act.