Three St. Louis area organizations with forestry programming will no longer receive funding from the Arbor Day Foundation to help plant trees in underserved communities.
It comes after the Trump administration terminated diversity, equity and inclusion programs across all federal departments. That included the U.S. Forest Service, which recently ended a $4.7 million grant to the Arbor Day Foundation's Community Roots Program that was awarded last September as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Forest ReLeaf of Missouri was awarded $293,000 to support its statewide forestry programming and plant 3,000 trees in underprivileged areas. Beyond Housing received an award notice granting $500,000 to plant 1,000 trees across north St. Louis County over the next three years. Friends of Bellefontaine Cemetery was awarded funding to help plant trees throughout north county neighborhoods that surround the cemetery.
Having the grant funding rescinded is frustrating, especially when it would have created many benefits for communities of color, said Chris Krehmeyer, CEO of Beyond Housing.
“It’s going to have an impact on the visual construct of our community,” he said. “[Now] there'll be fewer toxins taken out of the air and less shade provided for homeowners and for the community at large.”
The Arbor Day Foundation’s Community Roots Program awarded money to 18 nationwide nonprofits, including some in Texas, Louisiana, Colorado, Massachusetts and California. According to the Associated Press, the U.S. Forest Service wrote in a Feb. 14 email to the Arbor Day Foundation that the award “no longer effectuates agency priorities regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and activities.”
The Arbor Day Foundation could not be reached for comment.
Krehmeyer has not seen the actual notice from the foundation but questions how tree planting falls under DEI initiatives.
“I'm not sure how that fits under any particular category that someone may take offense to,” Krehmeyer said. “Planting trees is about making the community healthy and stronger. If we want a strong St Louis region, if we want a strong country, we have to invest in the people in places that have been left behind for far too long.”
Beyond Housing’s forestry and community conservation department completed an urban tree canopy study in 2021 that highlighted the urban forestry of north St. Louis County. From the study’s results, the community organization devised three goals for parts of north county: reduce the urban heat island effect, improve air quality and enhance stormwater management. Krehmeyer said planting more trees would help the communities reach these goals.
“If we're going to turn communities around, we have to have a comprehensive and holistic approach to what makes them better,” he said.
A healthy number of trees in low-income communities helps reduce environmental disparities and produces significant health benefits for communities of color. Redlining is at the center of environmental disparities, and not investing in tree care and maintenance exacerbates environmental issues, said Rebecca Hankins, partnership manager at Forest ReLeaf of Missouri.
“As increasing storm weather events are taking place, vulnerable communities are getting hit harder because of lack of tree canopy. We're seeing higher heat, and on average, they have 10 degrees higher heat during the summer,” she said. “A lot of these communities rely on public transportation. They're waiting at bus stops with no tree canopy or cover … it's just very burdensome on these communities.”
Besides planting free trees across the state, Forest ReLeaf of Missouri was set to use the grant funding to support its staff and promote its forestry programs within communities it is not currently serving.
The nonprofit already plants 10,000 trees annually in underserved areas through its programming and community partnerships. Hankins said that to mitigate the loss of 3,000 trees, the organization is looking to the community to start learning about trees and planting them in spaces that could benefit the most.
“Most people notice a tree once it's gone,” she said. “We can't quite put our finger on why a community seems to be struggling, but when we go into a community that is full of trees, we just have this overwhelming sense of relief, and nature just really does something for us … and to have nature in your neighborhood is so important.”
The residents in the Baden, North Pointe, Walnut Park East and West, Mark Twain and North Riverfront neighborhoods will also be affected by the loss of forestry funding. The Friends of Bellefontaine Cemetery planned to give away more than 600 young trees and planting equipment. The trees would have replaced hundreds of storm-damaged and destroyed trees from community green spaces.
The cemetery did not provide the amount of funding the Arbor Day Foundation awarded it last year through the Community Roots Program.
“Trees are so necessary to anchor the community in a space that feels vibrant and feels alive and it feels like a place you want to be,” Hankins said.
