Feds spread $1 billion for tree plantings among US cities to reduce extreme heat and benefit health

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE
Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Hundreds of communities around the country will share more than $1 billion in federal money to help them plant and maintain trees under a federal program that is intended to reduce extreme heat, benefit health and improve access to nature. U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will announce the $1.13 billion in funding for 385 projects at an event Thursday morning in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The tree plantings efforts will be focused on marginalized areas in all 50 states as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and some tribal nations. In announcing the grants in Cedar Rapids, Vilsack will spotlight an eastern Iowa city that lost thousands of trees during an extreme windstorm in 2020.