NEWBURGH – The City of Newburgh has been awarded $40,000 by the State Department Environmental Conservation to improve its urban forest.
The funds will be used to remove 35 trees that pose a danger due to falling limbs and weakened structures caused by diseases.
Of the 35 trees to be removed, five are in Downing Park, seven are infected ash trees on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and one is adjacent to Delano Hitch Recreation Park.
The money will also enable for preparation of 20 empty tree pits for planting along the Broadway corridor.
“This grant will go a long way toward the re-greening of Broadway, our main business district, which has been virtually devoid of trees for many years,” said Chuck Thomas, chairman of the Conservation Advisory Council.
The winning grant proposal was a collaboration between Kippy Boyle, a member of the city’s Conservation Advisory Council at the time the grant was drafted; and Karen Eberle-McCarthy, president of the Downing Park Planning Committee.
