DNREC is seeking expanded funding for Gov. John Carney’s trademark Tree for Every Delawarean Initiative — one of only a handful of environmental projects highlighted in his State of the State address last month — but some lawmakers are pushing the agency to add guardrails to the program.
It’s a relatively inexpensive program, costing the state $100,000 in each of the past two years. So far, those dollars helped plant nearly 80,000 trees across Delaware, though trees planted without state funding can also be counted in the state’s tally.
This year, DNREC wants $500,000 for the program, but Senate Environment, Energy and Transportation Committee Chair Stephanie Hansen urged the agency to consider focusing on more sustainable native habitat restoration projects rather than simply chasing a goal of one million trees planted by 2030.
“It’s not just little things here and there," she said. "Part of it is restoring the environment – it’s restoring ecology."
She suggested focusing investments on native plants, soil amendments to help those plants survive and other steps to maximize the impact of newly planted trees.
DNREC Secretary Shawn Garvin responded that while his agency can consider how to use the funding to improve the survival rates of trees planted through the initiative, it will continue to count any new trees planted – native or not – in its statewide tally.
“If you plant trees in your back yard and you put it in the registry," he said, "We’re not going to exclude those trees. But we can have a conversation about the funding can be used for the whole tree and not just the sapling.”
According to Hansen, Delaware has lost 40 percent of its native plant species and a similar share of native bird species. Low-density residential construction increased the pace of deforestation in Delaware in recent decades; Sussex County alone loses an estimated 3,500 acres of forest each year.
