City of Poughkeepsie Receives a $50k Grant

POUGHKEEPSIE – Mayor Rob Rolison announced that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has awarded the City of Poughkeepsie $50,000 through the Urban and Community Forestry Project for a comprehensive street tree inventory and management plan. The endeavor will prove integral to the City’s comprehensive tree care program, and will help Poughkeepsie better understand its urban forest’s composition, structure, and tree maintenance needs; plan for short-term and long-term resource allocation; develop risk management strategies; and enable the city to promote the economic, environmental, and social benefits its trees provide to our community.

City Administrator Marc Nelson said, “If the value of all our city trees were included in our balance sheet, the City wouldn’t have a deficit. We’ve seen the results of not having a management plan for our trees, now we can look forward to seeing what a difference it makes when you have one. Thanks to this DEC grant, we’ll be able to become more strategic and forward-thinking when it comes to the work we do on city trees.”

Shade Tree Commission Chairwoman Virginia Hancock said, “We are grateful for the DEC’s help. After some years of decline, our return to proper care and maintenance of our city trees requires we take a new inventory and devise a new management plan. This important work will allow us to maximize the return on our investment in our trees for years to come.

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) received a total of 115 applications which were evaluated and awarded on a competitive basis. The program aims to encourage municipalities, grassroots organizations and volunteers to work in partnership to further improve New York’s urban forests for generations to come. The inventory will take place on a city-wide basis and is expected to begin in Spring 2019.