Townsend Tree Board receives Town Pump Grant
 | Author:
Patrick Plantenberg, Tree Board Chair
Townsend Tree Board Chair, Townsend Rotary Club |
Townsend Tree Board receives Town Pump Grant
Patrick Plantenberg
Tree Board Chair
The Board of Directors of the Town Pump Charitable Foundation has approved Townsend’s grant request for the Townsend Tree Board Broadwater County 2023 Tree Planting Project. The grant amount approved is $7,000.
The Town Pump Charitable Foundation Board commended the Townsend Tree Board for the Tree Board’s generosity of spirit and dedication of time and effort to Townsend.
The Townsend Tree Board has been planting trees in Broadwater County for 33 years. They do not receive a budget to purchase trees from the Townsend City Council because of limited funding available from the city. The city did provide $10,000 in fiscal year 2022-2023 to hire a contractor to water over 750 new trees planted since 2004. Trees need water in our 10- to 12-inch rainfall region, or they will die.
The Tree Board must fund its tree purchases by purchasing extra trees and selling them to private citizens at cost plus 30%. The Tree Board also raises money by planting trees for private citizens. Tree Board volunteers also prune trees for private citizens to help fund tree purchases. Finally, the Tree Board receives many donations as people learn that the volunteers are working without a budget.
This year, the Tree Board purchased 290 trees and shrubs worth $7,028. The average age of Tree Board volunteers is over 70 years of age. It is getting harder each year to complete enough extra volunteer work for private citizens to make that kind of money to pay for the trees and as a result tree work on the public trees in Townsend and Broadwater County must be set aside until that money is made by working on private trees.
The Town Pump Foundation grant would be used to pay for the 2023 trees. The grant money would allow the Tree Board volunteers to concentrate on planting more public trees on our boulevards and in our parks.
Over last year’s hard winter, Townsend lost over two dozen trees and many more shrubs on public property. The grant money will also allow us to concentrate on maintenance of the public tree plantings and removal of a backlog of stumps.
Costs to date in 2023 to plant and maintain public tree plantings include:
• Townsend Hardware: soil amendments $1,657
• Bobert's Tire and Glass: man-lift rental $3,000
• MT Urban and Community Forestry Assn. Grant Share $3,500
• ProRider stump grinding $800
• Spraying over 200 trees for fireblight @ $8/tree = $1,600
$10,557
All this money must be made by selling trees to private citizens, planting and pruning private trees, and with the help from donations. More costs are anticipated as work continues.
Thank you, Town Pump Charitable Foundation from the City of Townsend and the Townsend Tree Board.
