St. Croix as the V.I. Trail Alliance, St. George Village Botanical Garden and V.I. Agriculture Department came together last week at Government House on St. Croix, to celebrate the award of a record $6.5 million in federal urban forestry grants meant to improve the island’s climate resiliency and food security. The St. Croix Source’s article this weekend reported that Agriculture Commissioner Louis Petersen said the money will allow the department, which partners with the V.I. Trail Alliance, to plant a variety of trees to increase food production but also to train people to nurture and maintain the green spaces, creating job opportunities and economic benefits to the community. Read the full article here.
The proposal for the grant included inspiring and programs and solutions for urban forestry that included using trees here is to offset food insecurity, educating youth and paid training for the workforce, facilitating projects geared to community education, workforce development in urban forestry, climate mitigation, forest conservation and food resilience, and more.
To commemorate the award of $6.5 million in urban forestry grants for the big island under President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, members of the V.I. Trail Alliance, My Brother’s Workshop, the International Institute of Tropical Forestry in Puerto Rico, and the Urban and Community Forestry Program of the U.S. Forest Service planted a mastic bully tree at the Estate Adventure Pavilion and Trail on Wednesday on St. Croix (photo above).