By Jalen Maki
Tomahawk Leader Editor
TOMAHAWK – The City of Tomahawk will receive grant funding from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to help remove and replace ash trees impacted by an invasive species.
On Thursday, Dec. 14, DNR announced the recipients of its 2024 Urban Forestry Grants, which help fund projects “consistent with state and national goals for increasing the urban forest canopy.”
In total, roughly $805,000.00 – about $555,000.00 in state funding and approximately $250,000.00 in federal dollars – will be distributed among more than 50 Wisconsin organizations and communities, including Tomahawk, Ashland, Edgar, Spencer and Wisconsin Rapids.
DNR said a dollar-for-dollar match puts the estimated cost of the projects over $1.6 million.
The City of Tomahawk applied for the grant earlier this year and will be awarded $25,000.00 to aid in an ongoing project.
City employees have been working to identify and remove ash trees affected by emerald ash borer (EAB), an invasive wood-boring beetle that kills ash trees by eating the tissues under the bark, and plant new trees of a different species in their place. The grant funding will assist the city in this endeavor.
This summer, Streets Department Leadperson Nick Rosenmeier said eventually all 300 of the city’s ash trees “will be gone” due to EAB.
The City of Tomahawk received Urban Forestry Grant dollars in Nov. 2021, after two severe thunderstorms damaged and toppled trees throughout the city and Bradley Park that summer. Additional grant funds were allocated to Tomahawk and several other communities in Feb. 2022.