Title
Recommendation to Endorse a Grant Application to the U.S. Forest Service Urban & Community Forestry Inflation Reduction Act Grant Program for the Alameda Urban Forest Project.
In accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), this action is categorically exempt from further environmental review pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15308 (Actions by Regulatory Agencies for the Protection of the Environment). (Public Works 31041520, Recreation and Parks 10051400)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jennifer Ott, City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On October 4, 2022, the City Council authorized an agreement with Dudek Consultants for $269,830.29 to develop an Urban Forest Plan that updates and expands upon the 2010 Street Tree Master Plan to equitably increase citywide tree canopy (File: 2022-2371). The Urban Forest Plan will address the management of trees in Alameda, including street trees and park trees, trees in easement areas, and trees near power lines, and will make recommendations to enhance the urban forest on private property and on other public non-City of Alameda land. Increasing tree canopy cover will require planting additional trees on both City of Alameda (City) and non-City property.
One billion dollars in funding is available nationally through the Inflation Reduction Act, Urban and Community Forestry grant program to increase equitable access to urban tree canopy and associated human health, environmental and economic benefits in disadvantaged communities; broaden community engagement in local urban forest planning; and improve community and urban forest resilience to climate change, pests and storm events through best management and maintenance practices.
The City is requesting funding through this grant program to plant 500 trees per year for the next five years to increase tree canopy with a focus on those areas with lower than the citywide average tree canopy. The City also proposes to partner with Alameda Backyard Growers to conduct four (4) community workshops in connection with a free tree voucher program for residents to be administered by Alameda Point Collaborative Ploughshares Nursery. The total cost of the project is $3,965,500. The total federal request is $1,982,750 with a required 50% match of $1,982,750 from in-kind staff time as well as Public Works and Recreation and Parks department operating budgets.
BACKGROUND
The City is currently in the process of updating its Urban Forest Plan to equitably increase the citywide tree canopy. The Urban Forest Plan will address the management of trees in Alameda, including street trees and park trees, trees in easement areas, and trees near power lines, and will make recommendations to enhance the urban forest on private property and on other public non-City land. The Urban Forest Plan is intended to be strategic in advancing social equity and contributing to an improved quality of life by providing the benefits of an urban tree canopy to all community members, which includes improvement of emotional, psychological, and physical health. The Urban Forest Plan is anticipated to be presented to the City Council for adoption in Winter 2024.
An updated and expanded Urban Forest Plan was identified as a high priority action in the City's 2019 Climate Action and Resiliency Plan (CARP). This newly updated Urban Forest Plan will guide the City's operations and activities to expand and maintain the tree canopy for the next 10 years. The current tree canopy within the City is 11.2%, ranging from 5.1% to 20.9% by census tract with lower income census tracts generally having fewer trees. The City's draft goal, pending City Council approval of the Urban Forest Plan, is to increase the tree canopy to 20% by 2053. Reaching a 20% tree canopy cover will require significant effort that includes planting 350 net new trees annually for the next 30 years (10,500 trees in total), which is also the CARP goal. In 2022, the Alameda Recreation and Parks Department (APRD) and the Public Works Department planted 359 trees and removed 188 trees, for a net gain of 171 trees. The City has now increased its urban forest by 580 trees since 2019, which is short of the CARP and draft Urban Forest Plan goal.
DISCUSSION
The City has requested funding through the Urban and Community Forestry Inflation Reduction grant program to plant 500 trees per year for five years. This tree planting program will allow the City to catch up on its CARP goal from previous years and meet the net 350 trees planted per year going forward. The City proposed in the grant application prioritizing planting in both City parks and public streets to meet the CARP and draft Urban Forest Plan goals. ARPD will lead the effort to plant trees in underserved park areas, while the Public Works Department will lead planting the street trees in neighborhoods with lower than the citywide average tree canopy cover using contracted services. The tree planting will be accomplished using existing staff and contractors funded through the grant. The City has an annual tree planting program; however, there is opportunity to do more and to address the inequities in canopy cover. As part of the Urban Forest Plan update, the City is developing a priority planting score that prioritizes Census tracts for planting with low canopy cover and an equity focused metric of pollution vulnerability and burden using CalEnviroScreen 4.0, a screening tool that can be used to help identify California communities that are disproportionately burdened by multiple sources of pollution. This tool will be used to identify areas that trees will be planted as part of this grant and the tree species planted will be from the approved tree palette, as approved by City Council in the updated Urban Forest Plan.
The City cannot meet the ambitious tree planting goals in the CARP and forthcoming Urban Forest Plan without community support to plant trees on private properties. As part of the grant proposal, the City will partner with Alameda Backyard Growers (ABG), an Alameda-based non-profit whose mission is to share knowledge and resources about growing food and trees locally, consistent with local conditions, and sharing excess food with those in need. ABG will provide four free community workshops in connection with the free tree giveaways. The City also proposes to partner with Alameda Point Collaborative’s (APC) Ploughshares Nursery, a full-scale retail plant nursery that specializes in California native, drought tolerant, and edible plants. It offers hands-on education workshops throughout the year, covering sustainable landscaping and garden design, edible gardening, fruit tree care, composting and many other subjects. 100% of proceeds from the business support APC’s supportive housing community for formerly homeless families. With grant funds, Ploughshares Nursery will provide vouchers for free native, fruit and/or shade trees for Alameda residents. Each community member receiving a tree would receive a tree adoption packet provided by the City that includes material and resources on how to properly plant their tree, how to care for it, and any promotional material the City has to promote the Urban Forest, such as flyers on upcoming volunteer events and educational workshops. Through this approach, the community will become informed about tree management of City trees as well as ways to improve the tree canopy at their own residences. This will further contribute to expanding the City’s healthy tree canopy.
ALTERNATIVES
• Endorse submittal of the grant application recommended by staff.
• Request that staff withdraw the grant application.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The total grant request is $1,982,750 with a required 100% local match of $1,982,750 over four years for a total project cost of $3,965,500. The proposed match includes $470,128 in-kind from existing Public Works and ARPD staff salaries and benefits for urban forest management and $1,548,100 from existing budgeted urban forest funding for FY 2023/24 and 2024/25 within the Public Works Urban Forest Fund (26941570) and ARPD Parks Maintenance (10051450) operating budgets. This match assumes that the City will continue to plant and maintain 250 trees annually with its existing budget and that will be enhanced with new funding for an additional 250 trees annually. Future years local match will be pending City Council budget approval.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
The Alameda Urban Forest Project is consistent with the General Plan (2022) and makes progress towards meeting two of the goals in the Conservation + Climate Action Element, which are as follows:
Reduce: Reduce the community’s greenhouse gas emissions which are contributing to
global warming, climate change, and environmental and social impacts.
Protect: Protect and conserve Alameda’s natural resources and recognize their intrinsic importance in responding to climate change and fostering a healthy environment that sustains people, neighborhoods and the unique natural resources of the island.
The project also fulfills the goals of General Plan Policy CC-26, to “[t]ake actions to maintain and expand the number of trees in Alameda on public and private
property to improve public health, reduce pollution, and reduce heat island effects.”
Furthermore, this project would accomplish Action S2 in the CARP, which aims to: “Plant more trees in Alameda, increase landscaped islands, replace damaged trees, and make carbon sequestration a higher priority for the
landscape maintenance contract.”
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
In accordance with CEQA, this action is categorically exempt from further environmental review pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15308 (Actions by Regulatory Agencies for the Protection of the Environment).
CLIMATE IMPACT
Planting 500 trees annually for five years would have positive climate benefits. Alameda’s urban forest is estimated to remove 8.82 tons of pollution and sequester and store 10,777 tons of carbon each year. Planting trees also slows stormwater runoff and helps address urban heat island effect.
RECOMMENDATION
Endorse the City of Alameda’s grant application to the U.S. Forest Service Urban & Community Forestry Inflation Reduction Act Grant Program for the Alameda Urban Forest Project.
Respectfully submitted,
Erin Smith, Public Works Director
Justin Long, Recreation and Parks Director
By,
Danielle Mieler, Sustainability and Resiliency Manager
Matt Nowlen, Recreation and Parks
Jesse Barajas, Public Works
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Margaret O’Brien, Finance Director