SAN DIEGO — You could soon be seeing more trees around San Diego due to a new $10 million federal grant dedicated to increasing our urban forest. It comes as part of the Inflation Reduction Act with over one billion dollars being spread across the country for urban forestry projects, including 100 million dollars spent in the Golden State.
“With that grant, we’ll be planting thousands of trees in San Diego's historically underserved communities,” said Brian Widener, a City Forester with the City of San Diego.
More and more cities are quickly working to increase shade and beat the intense summer heat – worsening year over year. The trees not only provide beautiful aesthetics but a host of other benefits.
“Carbon sequestration, carbon storage," Widener listed among the benefits. "They help with stormwater runoff through their root systems and leaf systems when it rains. They clean our air by capturing small particulates in the air, and then on top of that they provide things like shade that are just simple benefits.”
Dr. Stephen Lehmann researches the impact of excessive heat on cities and adds the benefits with "not only street trees or gardens which is very good. But also large leaf tree native species. The native tree species will need more water but also large leaves will cast more shadows which is nice to see them... and much more comfortable. But it cools down the surface of the city."
"We have about 100 different tree species on the City's Tree Selection Guide for street trees," Widener told CBS 8. "All of those trees fit those kinds of characteristics where they're somewhat drought tolerant, and they can do well in this kind of climate where we get a little bit of rain during the winter months and then we have long periods of time without rain."
The grant is expected to be awarded in the spring and allows 5 years for the money to be used at the city’s discretion.
"There’s definitely the opportunity to hold tree planting events where volunteers can come out and help us plant these trees," Widener notes. "We're looking at a variety of different methods and efforts to get more of the community involved with putting these trees in the ground rather than just doing it ourselves. We definitely could use some community input."
For more information on San Diego's urban forest, visit the Trees program webpage.
