Village President Becky Beissel announced last week that the Village of Ellsworth was awarded a $25,000 matching grant from the Wisconsin DNR through their Urban Forestry Program.

Ellsworth High School students Cameron Lutfi, Thomas Helseth, Milan Johnson, Max Olson and Jacob Michels presented to the Ellsworth Village Board earlier this year as part of their Capstone Project, sharing their vision for Ellsworth to place a stronger focus on trees, sustainability, and ultimately becoming a Tree City USA community. Their presentation highlighted the important role trees play in the health, beauty, and long-term vitality of a community.

That student-led idea helped spark the next step, which was the village applying for this DNR grant. The grant is a matching grant – so the Village of Ellsworth will put $25,000 towards the project as well.

The grant will fund creating a GIS inventory, developing a tree management plan for the village, removing ash trees and planting of new trees.

The grant activities will help towards the Tree City application. To become a Tree City, the village will need to implement a tree board/commission (can be an existing committee), pass a proclamation/resolution towards the beginning of the year and make some form of Arbor Day observation.

“This is a great example of what can happen when people take initiative. The students brought forward a thoughtful idea, did the work to back it up, and helped spark a conversation that led to this grant,” Beissel said.

To learn more about Tree City USA status, go to https://www.arborday.org/our-work/tree-city-usa

Submitted by Village of Ellsworth