City of Alamosa wins $1,500 tree grant

ALAMOSA – The City of Alamosa has received a $1,500 grant from the Colorado Tree Coalition (CTC) for the Alamosa Family Recreation Center Campus Shade and Windbreak Project.

The purpose of CTC grants is to promote community forestry: proper tree selection, planting location, planting and maintenance practices. The Alamosa Family Recreation Center has a new multiuse pavilion/ice rink, playground, paved parking lot, dog park, sports fields, and grass areas. Volunteers will help plant the trees and seedlings that will protect and shade these new areas of the recreation center. Alamosa has been an Arbor Day Foundation Tree City for 28 years and the community is dedicated to creating and maintaining a healthy community forest.

Thanks to on-going financial and administrative support from the USDA Forest Service and the Colorado State Forest Service, dues-paying members, and sponsors of the grant program, the Colorado Tree Coalition (CTC) awarded $49,698 to 21 organizations in 2018. Along with matching funds provided by the grant recipients this helped plant 1,309 trees in communities across Colorado.  Each of these projects allowed residents the opportunity to make a difference in their community with a combined total of 2,725 hours of volunteer service. 

These grants were made possible through the support of the USDA Forest Service, the Colorado State Forest Service, Xcel Energy Foundation, Xcel Energy Vegetation Management, and the members and supporters of the Colorado Tree Coalition.  Since 1991 the Colorado Tree Coalition has awarded 533 grants totaling over $927,698. These grants have been matched with over $8 million in community money and/or time. As a result of these grants 76,478 trees have been planted throughout the state.