The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Division of Lands and Forests is pleased to announce funding for Round 17 of Urban and Community Forestry (UCF) grants.
Donor Name: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
State: New York
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 08/12/2026
Size of the Grant: More than $1 million
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
Tree inventories and management plans are the essential building blocks of healthy, thriving urban forests. Under the auspices of the 25 Million Trees Initiative, this grant program will promote a data-driven understanding of urban forest extent and composition to support management planning for community forest expansion and enhancement—maximizing the resiliency and cobenefits of trees and forested natural areas, including clean air and water, stormwater retention, extreme heat mitigation, increased access to urban nature, and improved public health.
The purpose of this grant opportunity is to support strong, self-sustaining urban and community forestry programs which enhance the quality of life for all New Yorkers. Grant projects must develop inventories and assessments for individual right-of-way and landscape trees or for forested natural areas or develop community forest management plans based on inventories or assessments. This round adds a new project type for developing inventories and assessments using ground-based remote sensing technologies.
Funding Information
- Approximately $10 million total is available for UCF Grant Round 17, with up to $3 million of this amount available for communities with populations smaller than 65,000
- Minimum grant amount is $50,000; Maximum grant amount is $2,500,000.
Eligible Projects
Bids must be for one of the following practice types:
- Traditional Street/ Landscaped Park Tree Inventory/Assessment;
- Street Trees/ Landscaped Park tree inventory/assessment using ground based remote sensing (terrestrial LiDAR)
- Forested Natural Areas Inventory/Assessment;
- Community Forest Management Plan; or
- A combined bid of a Community Forest Management Plan (D) and one of the inventory/assessment methods (A, B, or C).
- Bidders are allowed to apply for one inventory/assessment project and one management plan per application. Bidders are limited to one application.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible Entities
- Municipalities;
- Not for profit organizations;
- Indian Nations and Tribes; and
- State agencies (only for inventory of forested natural areas)
- Eligible Bidders
- Governmental Entities, Municipalities, and Quasi-Governmental Entities, including but not limited to Counties, Cities, Towns, Villages, or Indian Nations or Tribes recognized by the state or the United States with a reservation wholly or partly within the boundaries of New York State, or any combination thereof, Public Benefit Corporations, Public Authorities, Municipal Corporations, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, School Districts, and Community Colleges, and 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporations whose projects are located within the eligible geographic boundaries defined in this Request For Applications (RFA). New York State agencies are ONLY eligible to apply for inventories/assessments and management plans of forested natural areas.
- Not-for Profit Applicants:
- A not-for-profit corporation (NFP) community-based organization is eligible to bid. NFPs planning to inventory public trees must have a signed letter of agreement with the municipality the trees are located in. A community-based organization may partner with a NFP that will serve as their fiscal sponsor in order to be eligible to bid on this opportunity. For the purposes of this grant opportunity, a community-based organization is an organization that:
- Serves the residents of an area equal to or smaller than a town or city outside of New York City, or an area equal to or smaller than one of the five boroughs within New York City; and
- Cannot have its charter revoked or otherwise be dissolved through the action of another organization; and
- Is able to enter into legal agreements independent of any affiliated nonprofit organization, government body, university or other entity that would be ineligible to apply for this grant; and
- Has more than 50 percent of its members residing in the affected community, or more than 50 percent of the people served by the bidder community group residing in the affected community.
For more information, visit NYSDEC.
