The City of San Diego was awarded a $10 million five-year urban forestry grant by the USDA Forest Service in 2024, named Ready, Set, Grow San Diego, and planted 5,196 trees six disadvantaged communities. The City also planted 2,800 trees in the Trees for Communities program, which is funded from the $5 million committed from the APCD settlement (over five years). See map for both projects.
A two-year report was prepared, view 1-page Executive Summary. City-provided information was reviewed for tree planting locations, watering, monitoring, public comments, attendance at workshops and other meetings, and communication with community-based organizations (CBOs). Successful elements and opportunities to improve were identified for pre-planting, planting, post-planting, community engagement, and CBO participation. These include identifying planting locations with long-term irrigation or other water sources, planting quality climate-ready species, providing opt-out options and species flexibility, diversifying pathways for community input and stewardship, and applying monitoring results to future projects and grant applications.
View reference materials from the 24-page two-year report. See application (which is the scope of work), program overview, and signed agreement (which is legal document). View standards, codes and requirements for the project work. Most-relevant articles: Golden Shovel: Tree planting initiatives, Tree stewardship and public health in LA, Why don’t people plant trees? Urban tree mortality.
Why is community engagement so important for long-term sustainability and project success? Community-based organizations (CBOs) can help develop community priorities, confirm tree planting sites, and invest in long-term stewardship. CBOs included Groundwork San Diego Chollas-Creek. Urban Collaborative Project, SD Urban Sustainability Coalition, Bayside Community Center, and others.
The Ready, Set, Grow project contributes to plans already adopted by the City, including the Climate Action Plan (increase tree canopy), Resilient San Diego (sustainable, greener communities), EquityForward (equitable opportunities and investments), Climate Equity (including jobs), and more.
This grant is part of the $1.5 billion allocated in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 for urban forestry projects. Grants were awarded to more than 400 cities and organizations (including Tree San Diego, Chula Vista, El Cajon, Escondido, and Vista). All grants were 100% commitments to “Justice 40” areas, identified from census tracts that are disadvantaged, marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution.