La Grande Parks and Rec receive nearly 80 thousand dollars to plant shade trees along Island Avenue

LA GRANDE – La Grande Parks and Recreation has been selected by the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development to receive a Community Green Infrastructure Grant (CGI). Out of 67 applicants, La Grande Parks and Recreation were one of 23 selected during the most recent round of funding, with a total of $3.6 million dollars in grant awards being distributed statewide. These CGI grants, as described by the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development, “provide funds for building, planting, producing, and planning for green infrastructure, which is infrastructure that mimics natural systems, such as urban green space and parks, trees, rain gardens, and bioswales, among others.”

 La Grande’s own grant is worth $79,830 dollars according to Urban Forester Teresa Gustafson. With these funds, La Grande Parks and Recreation will plant additional trees along Island Avenue, extending the greenway and providing new shade trees for a larger portion of the community. The official description of the Island Avenue Greenway Project, as listed in the CGI award list, is as follows:

“Plant forty climate resilient, large stature shade trees in the right-of-way adjacent to a manufactured dwelling park that has no environmental buffer from the five-lane state highway, the railroad spur line, or the auto dealership directly across the highway. The project will extend greenway to increase tree canopy in an underserved community; improving air quality, providing screening, sequestering carbon, mitigating summer temperatures, and shading the pedestrian right-of-way.”

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