Danville receives $1 million tree grant; to celebrate Arbor Day Saturday | Environment | news-gazette.com

Oct 20, 2024

Our Communities Editor

DANVILLE — Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. said a $1 million federal grant to assist the city in felling aging and dead trees and replacing them was sorely needed.

The city received word it had been awarded the grant from the Inflation Reduction Act and the USDA Forest Service Urban and Community Forest Program.

The grant represents the highest municipal award in Illinois and will pave the way for the city’s Community Roots: Danville’s Urban Reforestation and Revitalization Plan.

The city will celebrate the grant at an Arbor Day celebration from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, at Danville Public Library.

The event is held in collaboration with Trees for Danville. It will kick off with an Arbor Day proclamation by Patrick Halloran.

There will be a variety of activities, including sapling giveaways, tree-care guide distributions, tree-planting demonstrations, family-friendly activities and contests such as “tree-via” and “poet-tree.”

“I’m excited because it’s going to allow us to perform two functions that are badly needed in the city of Danville,” Williams said of the grant.

“Number one it’s going to allow us to cut down a lot of bad and dead and dangerous trees in the public right way throughout the city.

“In some ways, more important, it’s going to allow us to plant thousands of trees around the city of Danville.”

Williams said more trees were sorely needed in the community, even before a June 2023 derecho that damaged or felled numerous older trees.

“It will allow use to replenish some of the forestry,” Williams said.

Hit especially hard was Lincoln Park, where 60- to 100-year-old oak trees were felled or damaged.

A quality tree population is important to aesthetics as well as the worth of property, Williams said.

“Stats show that areas that have trees, the property values are better,” he said. “People pay less for utilities because they have shade.

“Trees help a community in a lot of ways, not just the environmental improvements that we think of.”

This is an especially pleasant time of year to have trees, he said, because of the changing colors.

Dave Hinton is editor of The News-Gazette's Our County section and former editor of the Rantoul Press. He can be reached at [email protected].

Our Communities Editor

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