Aitkin Receives Grant for Trees

Aitkin received more than $57k to manage community trees through a grant program from the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust. The grant is part of a larger $2.4m allocated to several communities so they can protect their urban forests. The focus of this grant round is to manage Ash trees, which are susceptible to devastating attacks by the non-native emerald ash borer, a beetle that can destroy an Ash tree in just a few years. All Ash trees in the state are at risk. The funding will cover things like tree inventories, management plans, ash tree removal, tree planting, and more. The next round of grant funding will likely to open next month, with more than $16 million available.