Healey awards $1 million to plant trees in gateway cities – Sentinel and Enterprise

New funding from the Healey-Driscoll Administration will be used to plant trees in key cities including Leominster, Fitchburg and Lowell. (COURTESY HEALEY-DRISCOLL ADMINISTRATION)

BOSTON — The Healey-Driscoll Administration today announced more than $1 million in grants to support tree planting and urban forest canopy expansion in Massachusetts’ Gateway Cities.

Seven projects received awards through the GGCP Non-Profit Partnership Grant Program, including projects in Leominster, Fitchburg and Lowell. Additionally, six municipalities, two nonprofits and one state university received awards through the Greening the Gateway Cities (GGCP) Implementation Grant Program.

“Expanding our forest canopy is one piece of the larger puzzle to combat climate change in Massachusetts,” said Secretary of Energy and Environment Rebecca Tepper. “With ongoing heat waves leading to higher energy bills and greater greenhouse gas emissions, our Greening the Gateway Cities Program leverages our state resources and engages residents to plant trees and improve public health. Reducing the urban heat island effect is a top priority, and our nonprofit partnerships through the GGCP will help cool our neighborhoods, cities and towns.”

Planting trees in Gateway Cities is essential to achieving the state’s climate goals by reducing energy use, mitigating flooding from stormwater runoff, mitigating extreme heat in urban areas, and improving overall public health. Trees cool neighborhoods and reduce the “urban heat island” effect, where areas with a lack of green space and an abundance of impervious surfaces, such as buildings and roads, create significantly hotter living conditions and negative public health impacts.

“The Greening Gateway City initiatives address important inequities, including the overheating that occurs in urban areas,” said Representative Patricia Duffy. “I am so grateful that the Healey-Driscoll Administration recognizes this and supports these efforts. I look forward to seeing these beautiful trees in my city.”

In 2024, GGCP expanded eligible planting areas to include environmentally friendly neighborhoods in the Gateway Cities.

The Non-Profit Partnership Grant awards provide funding to nonprofit organizations to educate residents and business owners who want to receive free trees from the Greening the Gateway Cities Program (GGCP).

These partnerships enable the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to maximize tree planting and tree management in environmentally sustainable neighborhoods within Gateway Cities.

Some local GGCP Non-Profit Partnership Grant recipients include:

• Growing Places – $48,778 to increase community awareness about the GGCP in both Leominster and Fitchburg, conduct door-to-door campaigns, connect DCR rangers with new landowners to plant trees in environmental justice-focused neighborhoods, mail out literature, and attend community events to increase knowledge about the many benefits of planting trees in urban areas in both communities.

• Lowell Parks & Conservation Trust – $24,520 to conduct door-to-door campaigns, social media outreach, attendance at community events to raise awareness of GGCP tree planting, as well as conduct training and educational programs.

-The Healey-Driscoll government