The City of Lloydminster is applying for a grant in hopes of adding some new tree coverage to the city.
Read more: Q&A: On the bench with Pursuit School of Sport
The Growing Canada’s Community Canopies (GCCC) provides funding for projects aimed at increasing tree canopy coverage across cities in Canada.
Council approved a pair of motions at the Sept. 8 meeting to apply for the grant as well as commit funds to the project, if it is successful.
If the grant application is unsuccessful the project would not move forward.
“If we are not successful on the grant, we would not pull money from the reserve at all,” said Ryan Hill, financial planning and analysis manager with the City of Lloydminster.
The grant provides a maximum contribution of up to 50 per cent of a project.
“The total project is $167,000 and if we’re successful with the grant they would cover half of that, so $83,000 a piece effectively,” he said.
Hill also gave some details into how many new trees the Border City would see.
“This project would have about 285 trees put throughout the city ,if you do the quick math it’s $590 a tree, which you’re not putting saplings in you’re putting in the mature tree and then caring for them,” he said.
There are a number of locations around the city that have been identified as needing the tree coverage.
“Some areas include the Bud Miller (All Seasons) Park, Weaver Park, Highway 16 west boulevards, Highway 17 south boulevards, a couple other smaller parks and neighbourhood boulevards and then also some cemetery and golf course dying trees,” said Hill. “This is really all over the city.”
The city has committed $83,520 from the Recreation and Culture capital reserve with the GCC covering the other $83,520 for a total cost of $167,040 should the grant application be successful.
If the project moves ahead it could start in 2026 and wrap up within two years.
Read more: Spiro’s steps up for Terry Fox Foundation
