Countywide : County Gets Park Reforestation Grant

The county of Orange received a $130,000 grant this week that will benefit both small businesses and county parks.

The grant will be used to establish an annual reforestation project to replace dead and dying trees in county regional parks, said Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder.

The grant was awarded to the county under the Small Business Appropriation Act, which provides funding to state and local governments for purchasing and planting trees on government-owned or -controlled lands. Grant recipients are required to use contractors with fewer than 100 employees and to divide the project among at least two contractors.

Wieder said the grant enables the county to assist small businesses in Orange County during an economic slump as well as to improve the aesthetics at county parks.

Regional parks receiving new trees include Fairview, Irvine, Yorba, Mile Square and Laguna Niguel. Wieder said the project will use trees native to California, including coast live oaks, California sycamores, native alder, poplar and willow trees.

Tim Miller, manager of the county’s regional parks, said the grant will add a significant number of trees to the parks.

“In my time here, there’s never been an enhancement like this that’s on a countywide basis,” he said. “We’re going to get a lot of trees for that money, about 1,500 per park.”