II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1380 

To amend the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 to provide States 

and communities with additional assistance to plant and maintain trees, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 27, 2023 

Mr. BROWN (for himself and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, 

and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 

to provide States and communities with additional assistance to plant and maintain trees, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Neighborhood Tree 

5 Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) the presence of a healthy and well-main9 tained urban forest can— 


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1 (A) support— 

2 (i) the physical and mental health of 

3 community residents; 

4 (ii) the regulation of air quality; 

5 (iii) the mitigation of the urban heat 

6 island effect; 

7 (iv) the reduction of energy demand; 

8 and 

9 (v) stormwater management; and 

10 (B) provide other benefits; 

11 (2) according to research of the Forest Service, 

12 the estimated value of benefits described in para13 graph (1) exceeds $18,000,000,000; 

14 (3) the maintenance and management of an 

15 urban forest offers additional opportunities relating 

16 to workforce development, job creation, and enhance17 ment of property values; 

18 (4) urban forest canopy cover is inequitably dis19 tributed among racial groups and income levels, ex20 acerbating disparities in exposure, for example, to 

21 the urban heat island effect and in related health 

22 risks or financial burdens relating to cooling; 

23 (5) the effects of historical discriminatory poli24 cies, such as redlining, continue to have effects on 

25 urban environments; 


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1 (6) a recent analysis shows that— 

2 (A) urbanized neighborhoods with mostly 

3 people of color have 33 percent less tree canopy 

4 on average than majority white neighborhoods; 

5 and 

6 (B) low-income neighborhoods have 41 per7 cent less tree cover than neighborhoods with 

8 low rates of poverty; 

9 (7) additional analyses of cities in the United 

10 States found that— 

11 (A) communities primarily inhabited by 

12 United States-born, white populations contain 

13 more than twice the urban forest canopy cover 

14 of communities primarily inhabited by racial 

15 and ethnic minorities; and 

16 (B) there were elevated land temperatures 

17 in formerly redlined areas compared to their 

18 nonredlined counterparts, by an average 2.6 de19 grees Celsius and up to 7 degrees Celsius; and 

20 (8) to reduce disparities in the enjoyment of the 

21 social, environmental, and economic benefits of 

22 healthy and well-maintained urban forests and man23 age risks relating to heat exposure and other urban 

24 stressors, the Federal Government should accelerate 


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1 actions to enhance the health and resilience of urban 

2 forests, with investment in priority communities. 

3 SEC. 3. NEIGHBORHOOD TREE FUND. 

4 Section 9 of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act 

5 of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2105) is amended— 

6 (1) by redesignating subsections (h) and (i) as 

7 subsections (i) and (j), respectively; and 

8 (2) by inserting after subsection (g) the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(h) NEIGHBORHOOD TREE FUND.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Consistent with the pur12 poses described in subsection (b), the Secretary shall 

13 establish the Neighborhood Tree Fund (referred to 

14 in this subsection as the ‘Fund’). 

15 ‘‘(2) ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall use 

16 amounts from the Fund to provide assistance to eli17 gible entities described in paragraph (3) to increase 

18 and improve the overall health of the tree canopy in 

19 a community. 

20 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBILITY.—An entity that is eligible to 

21 receive assistance under paragraph (2) is— 

22 ‘‘(A) a State; 

23 ‘‘(B) an Indian Tribe; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) a local unit of government, approved 

2 organization, or local community tree volunteer 

3 group described in subsection (b)(4). 

4 ‘‘(4) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary, in con5 sultation with the Secretary of Housing and Urban 

6 Development, shall establish requirements for the re7 ceipt of assistance under paragraph (2), including 

8 requirements with respect to— 

9 ‘‘(A) engagement with communities and 

10 stakeholders; 

11 ‘‘(B) the conduct of a tree canopy assess12 ment; 

13 ‘‘(C) the use of climate change science in 

14 the design of a project using the assistance; 

15 ‘‘(D) the conduct of site preparation and 

16 tree species selection; and 

17 ‘‘(E) the conduct of monitoring and main18 tenance to ensure the successful establishment 

19 of the tree canopy. 

20 ‘‘(5) PRIORITY.—The Secretary shall give pri21 ority to the provision of assistance under paragraph 

22 (2) to eligible entities that propose projects that— 

23 ‘‘(A) include and prioritize tree planting 

24 and tree maintenance in— 


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1 ‘‘(i) a census tract with a poverty rate 

2 of not less than 20 percent, as measured 

3 by the 5-year data series available from the 

4 American Community Survey of the Bu5 reau of the Census for the period of 2014 

6 through 2018, including such a census 

7 tract that includes an area that was des8 ignated as ‘hazardous’ or ‘definitely declin9 ing’ in maps drawn by the Home Owners’ 

10 Loan Corporation; or 

11 ‘‘(ii) a community or neighborhood 

12 with lower tree canopy and higher max13 imum daytime summer temperatures com14 pared to surrounding communities or 

15 neighborhoods, as determined by the Sec16 retary, based on publicly available informa17 tion; or 

18 ‘‘(B) optimize outcomes for climate mitiga19 tion and resilience for the purpose of public 

20 health, as determined by the Secretary. 

21 ‘‘(6) LIMITATIONS ON USE OF AMOUNTS FOR

22 COMMUNITY TREE ASSESSMENTS.—Not more than 

23 10 percent of the amount made available under 

24 paragraph (7) for a fiscal year may be used for the 

25 development of community tree assessments. 


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1 ‘‘(7) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

2 There are authorized to be appropriated for deposit 

3 into the Fund, for use by the Secretary to carry out 

4 this subsection, not less than— 

5 ‘‘(A) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2024; 

6 ‘‘(B) $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2025; 

7 ‘‘(C) $400,000,000 for fiscal year 2026; 

8 ‘‘(D) $600,000,000 for fiscal year 2027; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(E) $700,000,000 for fiscal year 2028.’’. 

11 SEC. 4. NATIONAL URBAN AND COMMUNITY FORESTRY AD12 VISORY COUNCIL COMPOSITION. 

13 Section 9(g)(2)(A) of the Cooperative Forestry As14 sistance Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2105(g)(2)(A)) is amend15 ed— 

16 (1) in the matter preceding clause (i), by strik17 ing ‘‘15’’ and inserting ‘‘16’’; 

18 (2) in each of clauses (i) through (viii), by 

19 striking the comma at the end and inserting a pe20 riod; 

21 (3) in clause (ix), by striking ‘‘, and’’ at the end 

22 and inserting a period; and 

23 (4) by striking clause (x) and inserting the fol24 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(x) 3 members who are not officers 

2 or employees of any governmental body 

3 and who have expertise and have been ac4 tive in urban and community forestry, of 

5 whom— 

6 ‘‘(I) 1 is a resident of a commu7 nity with a population of less than 

8 50,000 as of the most recent census; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(II) 1 is a resident of a low-in11 come community, as determined by 

12 the Secretary.’’. 

Æ 


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