By Louis Zylka
The 830 Times
City council members have approved submitting an application to the Texas A&M Forest Service for planting up to 10,000 trees in Del Rio.
Discussion of authorizing and directing the city manager to submit a 2025 Community Forestry Grant Application under the Community Greening Transformation Category in the 2025 Community Forestry Grant Program for awards up to $2,375,000 was part of the council’s agenda during their meeting on Tuesday.
Councilwoman Carmen Gutierrez made the motion to approve the resolution, and Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus gave the second.
In the memo submitted by Michael Garcia, assistant to the city manager and the city’s grant writer, and provided to the council, the Community Forestry Grant Program focuses on “creating transformative place-making projects in Texas through the strategic expansion of tree canopies.”
council about approving a grant application to the Texas A&M Forest Service agency
during Tuesday’s regular meeting. The application will provide the opportunity to bring 10,000
new trees to the city. (Photo by Louis Zylka)
Garcia was in attendance to answer questions, and Gutierrez asked him to elaborate on the section of the memo saying the application being submitted will provide up to five awards for up to 10,000 trees.
“This is a very competitive grant in the state of Texas, and one of the requirements is that we must purchase and introduce 10,000 new trees into the community so that it can be included at the parks and creeks,” Garcia said.
“Part of the requirement is we must have five events around the grant period, which is three years, so we can give away trees to the residents. And part of this grant, if awarded, is that we must create an educational program in which we can teach citizens how to plant,” Garcia added.
“If awarded, this grant will also pay for irrigation and for the labor since the parks department does not have the labor to plant 10,000 trees. We can actually pay others, whether it is volunteers we can contract it out, and we can pay up to $33 or $35 per person so that way they can assist us in this program,” Garcia said.
Garcia mentioned this is the first time the city has submitted an application to the program, and he said the city staff is excited about this opportunity. He also thanked Peter Ojeda, the city’s communications and marketing director, for bringing the program to his attention.
Gutierrez thanked Garcia for elaborating on the grant and thanked everyone involved in the process. Councilman J.P. Sanchez commented, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
The council unanimously agreed before moving on to the next topic.
