The Trump administration has canceled grants previously awarded for planting trees in the Almeda Fire burn area and for agricultural equipment in the Rogue Valley

By Lex Treinen for Ashland.news

Two adjacent lots at the Ashland Mobile Estates paint a stark picture of the potential effects of a recent Trump administration funding suspension of a tree-planting project.

One of the lots is covered with about a dozen 10-foot-tall saplings. Ginkgo, madrone and Chinese pistache trees are planted in neat lines across the property. The young trees, with buds just appearing, are neatly surrounded by a ring of rocks enclosing dark topsoil.

The other is bare: just dirt and gravel surrounding a mobile home.

Eric Dyssegard, the owner of the mobile home with the barren yard, wishes his lawn looked like his neighbors’. But that appears unlikely after the Trump administration’s decision to cancel a grant to plant trees in underserved areas.

$500,000 in grant funds canceled

Dozens, if not hundreds, of properties like Dyssegard’s in Ashland and in Talent — scarred by the Almeda Fire — probably won’t get any federal help for reforestation. On Feb. 14, the Trump administration canceled all remaining funding on a $600,000 grant for the nonprofit Our Community Forestry. The group is now unable to complete about $500,000 worth of planned projects at places like Bear Creek Estates.

The revocation of that money feels a little shortsighted to Dyssegard. He moved into the park in March, a few years after his old home burned in the Almeda Fire.

“I doubt they looked closely and said, ‘Who’s receiving that and do they need the benefit?’” Dyssegard said. He said he doesn’t remember if he voted in 2024, but if he did, it was for Trump. “It seems that Trump is taking a slash and burn approach.”

With a deadline from his landlord to landscape his house, Dyssegard is looking at paying out of pocket. He estimates a cost of at least $1,000. It’s not what he wants. He’d much prefer the shade, lower energy bills, environmental benefits and wildlife that trees could bring.

The grant was part of a $75 million grant from the federal government to the Arbor Day Foundation to plant trees around the country in underserved areas with environmental need. The program had been funded under the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA ranked scores based on socioeconomic status and environmental need.

Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has taken aim at programs that combat climate change and programs that his administration says promote diversity, equity and inclusion and other social justice programs.

A loss for those with limited resources

Mike Oxendine, who runs Our Community Forestry, said the cuts are a loss for people with limited resources in the Rogue Valley.

“Half the people we serve are probably Republican, half the people are probably Democrats, but we wouldn’t know because we don’t ask,” Oxendine said.

His organization was formed in 2023 after he realized that FEMA and homeowners insurance wouldn’t pay for tree planting. Oxendine said the benefits of trees extend beyond their aesthetic. Studies show that trees can reduce temperatures in shaded areas by more than 20 degrees.

“That can be the difference between life and death for people who can’t afford air conditioning,” he said.

Oxendine said he’s been working with homeowners who have benefited from the program on letter-writing campaigns and other outreach to state leaders, including U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz. He said he hasn’t had any direct response. (Bentz did not respond to a request for comment for this story.)

The loss of $500,000 for tree planting is just one effect of wide-ranging cuts and funding pauses by the Trump administration affecting Rogue Valley growers.

Agriculture equipment grant frozen

Confusion and funding pauses have been causing headaches for people like Chris Hardy, who runs Hardy Seeds in Ashland. The group had planned a purchase of a piece of equipment that would help farmers around Southern Oregon and Northern California process cereal grains. Hardy declined to say what the piece of equipment was because of confidentiality of the grant agreement. A $200,000 grant was frozen more than a month ago with no indication that the funding will ever be restored.

“It took a year to do the whole (grant writing) process,” said Hardy, taking a break from hand tilling a field on a recent afternoon. “Now we don’t know. Are they gonna be unfrozen? Are we gonna have to reapply?”

Another grant to fund research into heritage grains that could better grow in the Rogue Valley’s warming and drying climate had funding paused, and then restarted. Hardy said he was able to pay for the full costs for that project — a few thousand dollars — but the uncertainty has made it hard for him to plan ahead. He said farmers should be planning two or three years ahead, and the federal funding uncertainty makes investment hard.

‘We don’t know’

“Do we plant more seeds? Is there going to be more equipment showing up?” he said. “The biggest challenge is that we don’t know.” 

He said it’s especially hard to deal with the funding uncertainty combined with climate uncertainty. Hardy said that in recent years, pests have taken out entire crops of squash and wells have run dry. His heritage grain project could mitigate some of that uncertainty by finding and distributing varieties of seeds to farmers that require less water and are more pest-resistant. If the program is cut, Rogue Valley consumers could have fewer options for fresh, locally grown produce.

“It would arrest access to locally grown small-farm-produced food,” Hardy said.

Freelance journalist Lex Treinen previously reported for publications including Alaska Public Media, Anchorage Daily News, Mushing Magazine, The City Paper Bogotá, Fodor’s Travel and the Chilkat Valley News before moving to Ashland. Email Ashland.news at [email protected].

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