Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection

Emergency Burn Ban In Effect 10/26/24 - An emergency burn ban is now in effect for all Connecticut State Parks, Forests, and Wildlife Management areas, prohibiting the use of all outdoor grills, firepits, and campfires, and the kindling and use of flame outdoors. DEEP and local agencies are working to contain several active fires across the state. Please avoid all affected State Parks and Forests, as well as the blue-blazed Mattabesett Trail. The Enduro Trail in Voluntown and portions of North Stonington within the Pachaug State Forest are closed at this time. Please note that today's forest fire danger report remains at an 'extreme' level. More information about the current fire danger, burn ban and recommended safety measures can be found here

Urban and Community Forestry Planning Grant Program

Through financial support provided by the USDA Forest Service, DEEP’s Urban and Community Forestry Program is requesting proposals for the Urban and Community Forestry Planning Grant Program. Awards are for $2,500 - $65,000, local government organizations and non-profit 501(c)3 organizations are eligible to apply. The amount requested must be matched 50:50. This match may be a financial match, done through the expenditure of additional funds, or it may be achieved through in-kind contributions of goods or services donated by grant partners, or a combination of both. 

Identifying and implementing successful urban and community forestry projects depends on a comprehensive understanding of current conditions. To that end, the Urban and Community Forestry Planning Grant Program is providing funding to support projects that will help municipalities and non-profit organizations collect baseline data that can be used to inform future management decisions. Such projects may include, but are not limited to, conducting inventories of street and/or park trees, creating urban and community forest management plans, developing monitoring programs to document tree condition, and surveys of urban forested natural areas. Funds can be used to generate new materials and resources or to update existing ones such as previous inventories or out-of-date management plans. All applicants will need to articulate how such projects will be used to promote data-driven forest management in their respective cities in the future.  

If you are unsure of what an urban and community forestry planning project might look like in your city, take a look at the featured projects below including projects from previous grant recipients. 

Below are examples of projects from 2023 grant applicants:

  • Forest inventory of town-owned properties, Glastonbury
  • Tree inventory across city neighborhoods with lower tree equity scores, Middletown
  • Tree inventory of the Gaylordsville neighborhood, New Milford
  • Town-wide tree street tree inventory, Wethersfield
  • Tree inventory along South Main Street section, Winchester

This program is now open. The deadline for applications is January 31, 2025 at 5:00 PM. Questions will be accepted through November 22th and an FAQ will be published to this page by December 6th. Recipients will be notified of their awards by May 31st, 2025 by email. 

See the Request for Proposals and Grant Application. Grant Applications are hosted through Survey123. If you need special accommodations for your submission, reach out to DEEP.UCF.Grants@ct.gov. The grant application will ask for detailed budget and timeline information; we strongly recommend using the following Timeline and Budget templates to submit this information. 

Reach out to DEEP.UCF.Grants@ct.gov for more information.

 

Content last updated October 30, 2024.