Grants to improve township environment with trees

By Lisa Brody

Bloomfield Township trustees on Monday, March 28, unanimously approved grant funding from the Alliance of Rouge Communities (ARC) and the DTE Energy Foundation for tree purchase and planting.

Charles Markus, project coordinator in the township's department of engineering and environmental services, said the primary purposes of the programs are to promote awareness of the benefits of trees; to provide education about how to properly locate and plant trees away from utilities and other infrastructure; and to increase the number and diversity of tress planted and maintained in communities throughout the service area of DTE Energy gas and electric.

Markus explained Bloomfield Township received $150 per tree for fifty trees from the ARC's US Forest Service Reducing Runoff in the Rouge River area of concern (AOC) grant to plant native trees within public right of ways and public properties. The township also received funding from the DTE Energy Foundation for $150 per tree, with a maximum allotment of $4,000, to plant 26 native trees within public right of ways and public properties. In addition to the 26 trees that are receiving funding by the DTE Energy Foundation grant, he said the township desires to plant an additional four trees without any grant funding assistance to complete a section of plantings along Telegraph Road and Woodward Avenue.

Bloomfield Township will receive $7,500 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service, and $4,000 from the DTE Energy Foundation.

The total amount for the tree improvement project is $52,637. Markus said the township had budgeted $40,000 for the plantings, with the township's match at $41,137. He said the engineering and and environmental services department and department of public works recommended that $1,137 come from the township's general fund.

Trustees unanimously agreed, and approved the grant funding as well.