Sunlight filters through cloud cover and a tree canopy in Marlborough. A new grant will help Marlborough expand its tree cover at multiple locations.
By Vicki Greene, Contributing Writer
MARLBOROUGH — Seeing an opportunity to both combat some of the effects of climate change and beautify several city neighborhoods, officials applied for and received a $44,500 grant from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MACP) and the Barr Foundation as part of its Accelerating Climate Resiliency Tree Initiative program.
Just one week after Arbor Day, in a May 5 memo, City Engineer Tom DiPersio along with the Forestry Division and Conservation/Sustainability Officer Priscilla Ryder, notified Mayor Arthur Vigeant of the grant win and added that the funds would be used to purchase and plant 93 trees.
The grant is meant to help “combat heat island effects” from the hot concrete streets in the city’s urban areas by providing shade. The trees will also help remove carbon dioxide from the air, part of the state’s climate resiliency effort.
Marlborough’s Early Childhood Center sits off Bolton St. The center is one of several locations where officials plan to plant trees through their new Tree Planting Initiative.
The trees are being purchased this month and are scheduled to be planted near the Boys and Girls Club at Elm and Pleasant Streets, at the new Bolton Street City Parking lot and near the Early Childhood Center along with several other locations.
The grant requires city officials to provide a six-month progress report and that they attend at least four meetings entitled, Resilience Community of Practice, put on by the MAPC.
