Casper to Seek $100,000 Grant for Urban Tree Canopy Improvements

The Casper City Council agreed Tuesday to pursue a $100,000 grant aimed at bolstering the city’s tree canopy and addressing public safety risks, after a previous $700,000 award was abruptly rescinded last year.

The funding would come through the Wyoming State Forestry Division’s Urban and Community Forestry Program, which is distributing federal Inflation Reduction Act allocations. If awarded, the grant requires no matching city funds.

The move is an attempt to recover some of the money lost when the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service terminated a pass-through partnership with the National Arbor Day Foundation in early 2025. Casper had been awarded nearly $700,000 from the foundation in April 2024 for forestry improvements, but those funds disappeared when the federal partnership dissolved.

Parks, Recreation and Public Facilities Director Zulima Lopez said the state forestry division later expressed interest in subawarding its own federal allocation to communities like Casper that lost their original funding.

The $100,000 would primarily fund removal and replacement of approximately 25 to 40 high-risk trees identified during a comprehensive assessment in August 2025. Those trees are located within various disadvantaged communities, Lopez said.

The council will formally vote on the grant application at a future meeting.