The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management is currently accepting applications for the Urban Forestry Program's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Grant Program. The IRA Grants are to be used to improve community forest conditions and access to disadvantaged communities, address the backlog of local community forestry work, and position Arizona’s community forests as a valuable piece of mitigating climate change impacts and urban heat.. Projects should be aimed at improving the long-term health and care of the urban forest, or at initiating new urban forestry projects in Arizona communities that would not otherwise be funded through existing budgets. This program is being made possible from funds allocated to Arizona from the USFS during the first round of funding distribution and not the public Notice of Funding Opportunity.
The IRA Project's theme is: Improving urban forest conditions in disadvantaged communities for climate resilience and heat mitigation. Project timelines for this grant should be 4 years. The projects must be in service to supporting disadvantaged communities as defined by the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool: CJEST - https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/en/(link is external).
b. Units of local government (counties, municipalities, cities, towns, and townships)
c. Federally and State Recognized Tribes and Tribal organizations as defined in 25 USC 5304 (l) and operating within the United States, or its territories
d. Non-profit organizations
e. Public educational institutions