Urban and Community Forestry Program 2026 Tree Inventory and Assessment Grant

Grant Information

Bids must be submitted through the NYS SFS Grants Management System. All Bidders must be Registered with SFS Grants Management to apply. Please visit https://grantsmanagement.ny.gov/transition-SFS to register.

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Division of Lands and Forests is pleased to announce funding for Round 17 of Urban and Community Forestry (UCF) grants. Tree inventories and management plans are the essential building blocks of healthy, thriving urban forests. Under the auspices of the 25 Million Trees Initiative, this grant program will promote a data-driven understanding of urban forest extent and composition to support management planning for community forest expansion and enhancement—maximizing the resiliency and co-benefits of trees and forested natural areas, including clean air and water, stormwater retention, extreme heat mitigation, increased access to urban nature, and improved public health.
The purpose of this grant opportunity is to support strong, self-sustaining urban and community forestry programs which enhance the quality of life for all New Yorkers. Grant projects must develop inventories and assessments for individual right-of-way and landscape trees or for forested natural areas or develop community forest management plans based on inventories or assessments. This round adds a new project type for developing inventories and assessments using ground-based remote sensing technologies.
This Request for Applications (RFA) is intended to help applicants develop a successful and detailed application. Please read this RFA carefully and in its entirety.

A) Proposed Project Timeframes
All projects must have defined objectives, tasks, and deliverables accounted for in performance measures that can be completed and invoiced within a four-year contract period/term. Costs outside of the contract period/term are ineligible. The NYS Contract for Grants must be fully approved by DEC, and if applicable approved by the Attorney General and the State Comptroller. Time extensions beyond the contract term end date will be determined by the Department based upon written justification from the Bidder. Bidders should not submit a bid if they do not anticipate their project can be completed within the specified contract term.

B) Funding
• Approximately $10 million total is available for UCF Grant Round 17, with up to $3 million of this amount available for communities with populations smaller than 65,000 people. Funding for this grant opportunity is provided by the New York State Environmental Protection Fund.
• Applicants should request the amount of funding they can show is appropriate and reasonable for their project and supported in their application.
This is a reimbursement grant. The awardee must pay costs upfront before receiving reimbursement by DEC.

C) Minimum and Maximum Award Amounts
Minimum grant amount is $50,000; Maximum grant amount is $2,500,000.

D) Match Requirements
There are no match requirements for this grant opportunity.

E) Bid (Application) Limit
Bidders may submit one application with multiple project sites. Bidders may also submit multiple applications for multiple projects but are limited to one inventory/ assessment and one community forest management plan

F) Eligible Project Locations
Eligible projects must be implemented in New York State on public properties (municipal public property, i.e., street and park trees or forested natural areas), privately owned land that is open to the public (e.g. cemeteries) or alongside a state-owned roadway in a city, town, village in a location where they provide a public benefit, or federally and state recognized Tribal reservation land. State lands are eligible only for inventories/assessments and/or management plans for forested natural areas. Projects may be implemented further from a public roadway if within 10 feet either side of a paved or maintained multiple use trail. Trees on school properties may be included in municipal applications if the property is owned by the municipality or if there is a written agreement that asserts the municipality manages the trees, in which the applicant must upload the agreement. All applicants must include a detailed map and description of the proposed project location.

G) Non-Eligible Project Locations
Private property, other than described above, is not eligible for this bid opportunity.

Eligible Bidders (Applicants)
For the purposes of this grant program, the following entities are considered eligible bidders:
Governmental Entities, Municipalities, and Quasi-Governmental Entities, including but not limited to Counties, Cities, Towns, Villages, or Indian Nations or Tribes recognized by the state or the United States with a reservation wholly or partly within the boundaries of New York State, or any combination thereof, Public Benefit Corporations, Public Authorities, Municipal Corporations, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, School Districts, and Community Colleges, and 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporations whose projects are located within the eligible geographic boundaries defined in this Request For Applications (RFA). New York State agencies are ONLY eligible to apply for inventories/assessments and management plans of forested natural areas.
Bidders must possess the knowledge, skills, and/or track record to successfully implement the project.
Individuals and unincorporated groups may not apply, but an eligible nonprofit organization, known as a fiscal sponsor, may apply on behalf of an individual or unincorporated group. The fiscal sponsor accepts responsibility to serve as a fiscal conduit for a DEC-funded project, receiving and disbursing funds related to the grant, and administering the requirements throughout the DEC grant process, including final reporting of grant activity. The unincorporated artist or group completes the project activity.
If a proposed project involves a cooperative agreement or partners, only one eligible, designated lead bidder can submit the bid for grant funding. The lead bidder must assume the responsibility for the project bid, performance of work consistent with this RFA, and the State of New York Contract for Grants. Letters substantiating the collaboration from each partner are required. These letters are to be uploaded to the SFS Grants Management system in a single PDF under the appropriate question for the bid.

Not-for Profit Applicants:
A not-for-profit corporation (NFP) community-based organization is eligible to bid. NFPs planning to inventory public trees must have a signed letter of agreement with the municipality the trees are located in. A community-based organization may partner with a NFP that will serve as their fiscal sponsor in order to be eligible to bid on this opportunity.
For the purposes of this grant opportunity, a community-based organization is an organization that:
• Serves the residents of an area equal to or smaller than a town or city outside of New York City, or an area equal to or smaller than one of the five boroughs within New York City; and
• Cannot have its charter revoked or otherwise be dissolved through the action of another organization; and
• Is able to enter into legal agreements independent of any affiliated nonprofit organization, government body, university or other entity that would be ineligible to apply for this grant; and
• Has more than 50 percent of its members residing in the affected community, or more than 50 percent of the people served by the bidder community group residing in the affected community.
For this grant opportunity, a NFP is subject to New York State’s Not-For-Profit Corporation Law, is qualified for tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Federal Internal Revenue Code, has an IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter to be incorporated in New York State and is current in their charities reporting requirements with the Office of the Attorney General.

Business enterprises awarded an identical or substantially similar procurement contract within the past five years:

UCF Grant Round 16 awards availible in the hyperlink.

Urban and Community Forestry Grants - NYSDEC

Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business (SDVOB)

SDVOB Goal: 6.00%

Minority / Women Business Enterprise contracting goals (MWBE)

MBE Goal: 30.00%

WBE Goal: 30.00%

Disadvantaged Business Enterprise contracting goals (DBE)

DBE Goal: 0.00%

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