Fostering Roots: Lansing Urban & Community Forestry Program

FCCP along with the Lansing School District, the Lansing Board of Water & Light (BWL), MassTimber@MSU, the City of Lansing’s Public Service Department, and the Lansing Area Tree Coalition receiving approximately $5 million in funding to enact a community-led investment in the maintenance and development of the urban tree canopy, focused on Lansing’s most disadvantage neighborhoods. Funds will be used for tree planting and maintenance, community engagement, workforce development and education pathways, holistic management of existing canopy, and demonstration of the use of urban wood waste in a nail-laminated timber project in Lansing.

The project team will:

Create a robust public engagement program seeking input and feedback from community members
Develop education and outreach tools to create awareness and cultivate an environmental ethic focused on the value of trees and communities
Plant and maintain 2000 or more trees in disadvantaged communities to revert recent trends in a shrinking urban tree canopy
Develop a workforce development program and offer forestry career pathways, including a paid work-based learning experience through the Lansing Tech High School
Create a paid internship program to promote professional development via hybrid learning
Develop a Nail-Laminated Timber demonstration project utilizing urban trees and salvaged urban wood to promote careers in the trades or other forestry pathways
Develop a data-driven case study that focuses on equity, urban forestry, and reforestation in Lansing

Across the 5-year timeline of this project, FCCP will lead on collecting data through stakeholder engagement to inform the development of a data-driven case study that will feature hyper-realistic visualizations created through the Forest + Climate Visualization Partnership (FCVP), a collaborative partnership with the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF). Additionally, FCCP will provide support on the development of education and outreach tools as well as help inform the workforce development program to promote careers in the trades or other forestry pathways.

This project is funded through the USDA Forest Service, Eastern Region, State, Private and Tribal Forestry Inflation Reduction Act: Urban & Community Forestry Program.