Naperville awarded grant to fund tree planting in tornado-damaged areas

A $15,000 grant is helping fund the city of Naperville's effort to replace trees damaged by the 2021 tornado.

The money, awarded in January, was provided by the United States Department of Agriculture through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Urban and Community Forestry Partner Grant Program and administered by the Morton Arboretum and the Chicago Region Trees Initiative.

The EF-3 tornado that struck June 20 last year forced the removal of 240 parkway trees, according to city officials. The grant funded the planting of 50 trees, but a total of 260 new trees have been planted in the area.

As part of the grant requirement, the trees will be monitored by the city for the next two years.

"We're grateful this grant gave us the opportunity to restore some normalcy in the hardest hit area by regaining the tree canopy that was lost during the tornado," said Dick Dublinski, the city's director of public works.