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Grants to bring more tree cover to south Omaha neighborhood
OMAHA, Neb. —
Grants will help bring more shade to South Omaha’s Southside Terrace-Indian Hills neighborhood.
The program will target the area between 27th and 36th streets and L Street and roughly Upland Park on the south.
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The neighborhood is both part of an urban heat island identified in a 2022 study and found to have much less tree canopy than other parts of Omaha.
The heat island is caused, in part, by the amount of industrial areas in South Omaha.
Omaha Neighborhood Planner Marianna McGuire says the city has a goal to reach 30% tree canopy in the area. That’s according to American Forests’ Tree Equity Score. Tree canopy is at and below 13% in parts of South Omaha the city’s program will target.
Between two grants, the city will receive $363,000 to plant trees, McGuire said. The funds ultimately came from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure bill, she said, and directly from Plant Nebraska.
One grant worth $100,000 will pay for trees along a pedestrian corridor.
Another grant of more than $260,000 will allow the city to plant trees in homeowners’ yards and provide education.
“The goal is to just try and make it an overall more pleasant, better quality of life,” McGuire said.
Anita Rojas, the neighborhood’s association president, said people are “drawn towards the shade and the coolness and the ability to get away from home… Trees are an important factor for this community.”
The two-year project is expected to run through the end of 2028. A neighborhood meeting about the initiative is scheduled for Aug. 12 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Canopy South in South Omaha.
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