A battle over the future of tree plantings in American cities is playing out at the Forest Service — and with it, the fate of a Republican legacy.
The Trump administration says its push to slash or eliminate federal funding for urban forestry is grounded on the belief that planting trees in cities and towns is best left to local governments and private foundations. But Republicans didn’t always see it that way.
One of the biggest boosts to urban forestry came in 1989, when President George H.W. Bush — inspired by his friend the Republican philanthropist Fred Trammell Crow — pushed an “America the Beautiful” campaign that included tens of millions of dollars to plant trees in cities and towns.
The “America the Beautiful Act” that incorporated Bush’s proposal became part of the 1990 farm bill. It included a one-time grant of $25 million to a nonprofit foundation to plant trees, and it directed the Forest Service to increase assistance and funding for urban and community tree-planting.
