Sponsors (9)
The bill directs substantial, multi-year federal funding to expand urban tree canopy and prioritize disadvantaged communities—improving heat mitigation, air quality, jobs, and local food access—but does so at significant federal and local cost, with administrative burdens and design limits that could leave some communities unsupported or create implementation challenges.
Low-income and historically underserved urban neighborhoods will receive prioritized grants to plant and maintain trees, reducing heat exposure and improving local air quality.
Creates dedicated multi-year federal funding (FY2025–FY2029) for canopy expansion, enabling planning and sustained maintenance by states, tribes, and local groups.
Priority communities could gain jobs and workforce training through expanded urban forest planting, maintenance, and management programs.
The bill increases federal spending by billions over five years, which will raise taxpayer costs or require budget offsets or cuts elsewhere.
Local governments will face ongoing maintenance, coordination, liability, and infrastructure costs to plant and sustain trees, which could strain municipal budgets.
State, tribal, and local applicants may incur substantial administrative burdens to meet detailed eligibility, climate‑informed design, monitoring, and reporting requirements.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a USDA Neighborhood Tree Fund to finance and prioritize urban tree canopy projects in disadvantaged, low-canopy, and high-heat communities with specified FY2025–FY2029 deposit minimums.
Official title: To amend the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 to provide States and communities with additional assistance to plant and maintain trees, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 23, 2026 by Shontel M. Brown · Last progress April 23, 2026
Creates a federally administered Neighborhood Tree Fund at the Department of Agriculture to pay for planting, maintaining, and assessing urban and community trees, with escalating annual deposits from FY2025–FY2029. The program prioritizes projects in disadvantaged, low-canopy, and high-heat communities, requires community engagement and climate-informed design, and adds residency-based representation requirements to the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council.