The Urban Greening Grant Program has delivered $3.75 million to 26 local governments in the Boorloo (Perth) and Bindjareb (Peel) regions for tree and understorey planting.
Funded by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) and delivered in collaboration with WALGA, the program aims to expand tree canopy and vegetative cover in high urban heat areas to help address the impacts of climate change, provide for biodiversity and improve the liveability of neighbourhoods.
The Urban Greening Grant Program successfully delivered three rounds of funding and has now closed. A total of 26 of the 33 eligible local governments successfully secured funding, with 43 planting projects funded across the three rounds. Collectively, the program will see over 33,000 trees and 260,000 understorey species planted across winter 2024 and winter 2025.
WALGA is advocating for an expanded Urban Greening Grant Program for the sector of $40 million over the next decade as part of the 2025 state election campaign.
Round three awarded a total of $1.6 million across 16 local governments; Bayswater, Belmont, Cambridge, Canning, Cottesloe, Fremantle, Gosnells, Joondalup, Kalamunda, Kwinana, Melville, Mundaring, Murray, Rockingham, Serpentine Jarrahdale and Swan.
These local governments will plant over 5,400 trees and 238,700 understorey species in winter 2025. Key outcomes include planting of food and habitat species for endangered black cockatoos, and the development of ecological linkages to remnant bushland, river and coastal reserves.
Plantings will enhance the liveability of communities, providing shade and cooling along verges of major arterial roads, key pedestrian and cycling networks, central business districts, parks and reserves, and low canopy residential areas.
Several local governments will offer community and school planting events as part of project delivery.
