By: Follow South Jersey Staff
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — New Jersey’s Natural Climate Solutions Grant program has awarded Atlantic City $759,000 for shade tree and vegetation planting the state has announced.
The city will plant 180 trees along 13 blocks along Atlantic Avenue. The trees will be planted by an experienced landscaper, and the city is working with the Special Improvement District to water and maintain the trees once they are planted.
“This grant allows us to continue our aggressive clean and safe efforts by reducing our carbon footprint while beautifying Atlantic Avenue in the process,” said Mayor Marty Small, Sr. in a press release from the city. “We will be paving and installing new lighting on Atlantic Avenue from Maine to Tennessee Avenues this Spring, and will now have the ability to add shade trees and plantings to this project.”
The application was supported by the Atlantic City Shade Tree Commission, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, Atlantic Cape Community College, the First Ward Civic Association, and the AtlantiCare Foundation.
According to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the Natural Climate Solutions Grant program funds $24.3 million in on-the-ground implementation of projects that create, restore, and enhance New Jersey’s natural carbon sinks, such as salt marshes, seagrass beds, forests, urban parks, and woodlands, and street trees.
“Through DEP’s nation-leading Natural Climate Solutions Grant Program, we will better support communities in their work to mitigate climate impacts – from our urban core, to the Atlantic coast, to our bay shores,” NJDEP Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette said at the grants announcement.
Other South Jersey communities receiving funds from the grant includes $1,035,668 to the Trust for Public Land that will support Camden’s Natural Climate Solutions Collaborative planting of least 800 trees across three public spaces and at least 215 trees in public housing complexes in the Centerville and Morgan Village neighborhoods in Camden City. Other priority tree planting sites include Gateway Park, Reverend Evers Park, and Stockton Station Park.
“Enhancing urban tree canopy directly improves community health not only by reducing pollution, but also by mitigating the effects of urban heat and localized flooding. Additionally, it provides Camden residents critical opportunities to learn, plant, and celebrate with their neighbors,” Justin Dennis, Trust for Public Land Camden Program Director stated.
Also the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Inc. will use $766,442 in grant funds to lead a project to construct a living shoreline of 1,300 feet along a rapidly eroding salt marsh in the Maurice River at Matt’s Landing in Maurice River Township, Cumberland County. The work will be performed in partnership with Rutgers University Haskins Shellfish Research Laboratory, Ducks Unlimited, Stevens Institute of Technology, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NJDEP Fish and Wildlife, according to the partnership.
“The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary is grateful for the funding support received from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection through the Natural Climate Solutions grant program. As the host of the Delaware Estuary Program, PDE leads collaborative and science-based efforts to improve the tidal Delaware River and Bay in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware,” Kathy Klein, the Partnership’s Executive Director said in a statement.
“The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary is grateful for the funding support received from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection through the Natural Climate Solutions grant program. As the host of the Delaware Estuary Program, PDE leads collaborative and science-based efforts to improve the tidal Delaware River and Bay in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware,” said Kathy Klein, the Partnership’s Executive Director.
This project is funded through New Jersey’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multi-state, market-based program that establishes a regional cap on carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel power plants.
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