Community Reforestation 2026

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is pleased to announce that approximately $20,000,000 is available for the second round of Community Reforestation (CoRe) Grants. During the 2024 State of the State address, Governor Hochul underlined tree planting as a priority of the 25 Million Trees Initiative particularly focused on mitigating extreme heat in urban areas worsened by climate change. This prompted an inaugural $15 million in capital funding to be allocated as first-time state funds focused on the improvement and expansion of urban natural area forests on public land or not-for-profit land open to the public through competitive grants in support of resilient reforestation and urban forests. CoRe projects will continue to expand, restore, and establish healthy forested natural areas in or near urban communities across New York State. Application information is available on the Department’s website at: https://dec.ny.gov/nature/forests-trees/urban-and-community-forestry/urban-and-community-forestry-grants. Business enterprises awarded an identical or substantially similar procurement contract within the past five years: None Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business (SDVOB) SDVOB Goal: 0.00%