Press Releases

(Washington, DC) - Congressman Ed Case (HI-01), a member of the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations responsible for all federal discretionary spending, announced today that H.R. 2471, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 signed into law by the President on Tuesday, March 15, included his request for $300,000 to assist the City and County of Honolulu to adapt to climate change with its city-wide Tree Inventory and Management Plan.

“Often underappreciated, O‘ahu’s trees, especially in our highly dense urban center, besides lending beauty to our Honolulu, are environmental workhorses and essential components of both climate change adaptation and mitigation,” said Case.

“According to the City and County of Honolulu, for each dollar spent on tree planting and care, Honolulu’s trees provide $3 in benefits. Recent assessments have determined that O‘ahu has lost nearly 5 percent of its total tree canopy over the study area in just four years.”

“This assistance through Congress’ Community Project Funding (CPF) program will enable Honolulu to develop a complete inventory of its tree assets, which is essential for determining the number of publicly owned trees, planning for new trees and tracking their maintenance needs. Analyzing a complete inventory against social vulnerability and other demographic and environmental data can identify potential disparities in city tree assets across communities and work towards equitable distribution of resources.”

“Trees and our urban forests are some of the most important elements of a thriving, sustainable community,” said Director of the City and County of Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation, Laura H. Thielen. “We have excellent programs in place for City and community tree planting, and to grow our tree canopy. With this funding for an integrated tree asset management system, we can more effectively manage the expanding tree resources.”

“We’re grateful for the support of Congressman Ed Case and staff in securing resources to both modernize City operations and support targeted climate change adaptation efforts,” added Chief Resilience Officer and Executive Director for the City Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency, Matthew Gonser.

“A complete City street and park tree inventory is the foundation to inform planting priorities and actions to address environmental and social justice; improve efforts to manage increasing temperatures due to climate change; better manage rain where it falls; create green and complete streets; and improve environmental and neighborhood conditions island-wide.”

This year the U.S. House incorporated CPF requests by individual Members of Congress for specific projects and purposes in their district into its annual appropriations process. CPF requests may only be directed to governments or non-profits, not for-profit businesses or individuals.

They must have demonstrated community support, and they are subject to audit by the independent Government Accountability Office. Finally, all Members must publicly disclose their CPF requests and signed required ethics certifications. Case’s disclosures are here: https://case.house.gov/media/funding-disclosures.htm.

Case made ten CPF requests, all of which were funded.

Attachments: pictures provided by the City and County of Honolulu.

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