The Urban Greening Grant Program provides $3.75 million (ex GST) to support additional tree and understorey planting for the 33 Local Governments located in the Boorloo (Perth) and Bindjareb (Peel) regions.
Round Three of the Program is now open
Funded by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) and delivered collaboratively 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 grant program has three rounds, with Round One targeted at planting programs in 2023/24 and Round Two and Three targeted at planting programs in 2024/25.
The Round Three Funding Guidelines outline the eligible activities and assessment criteria.
All 33 Local Governments within the Perth (Boorloo) and Peel (Bindjareb) regions are encouraged to apply.
Following feedback from Local Governments, Round Three of the Grant Program provides two funding streams:
Stream One – Greening Suburbs, with supplementary item funding of up to 50% of the total funding request, and
Stream Two – Greening City Centres, with supplementary item funding of up to 80%, with higher requests considered on merit.
Watering costs are now also included as an eligible supplementary item.
Round One and Round Two successful grant recipients are eligible to apply for funding under Round Three.
Applications close COB Monday 30 September 2024. Local Governments can participate in the Urban Greening Grant Program by completing an application through the SmartyGrants platform. The WALGA excel template can be submitted with information on the detailed budget, species selection, project plan and risk assessment.
For more information, please email Melanie Davies, Urban Forest Facilitator, or call (08) 9213 2065.
Details of the successful Round Two recipients
Round Two applications closed on 28 June 2024.
Round Two awarded a total of $1,197,165 across 14 Local Governments; Bassendean, Canning, Cottesloe, East Fremantle, Fremantle, Gosnells, Mandurah, Mosman Park, Rockingham, Serpentine Jarrahdale, Stirling, Swan, Vincent and Wanneroo .
Collectively, these Local Governments will plant over 18,00 trees and 93,000 understorey species in winter 2025. The majority of tree species (87%) are WA native plants, with over 2,000 trees each of Firewood banksia (Banksia menziesii), Bull banksia (B. grandis), Sheoak (Allocasuarina fraseriana), tuart (Eucalyptus gomphocephala) and jarrah (E. marginata). All understorey species are local provenance to the Perth and Peel region.
Plantings include key food and habitat species for endangered black cockatoos.
Planting locations are primarily public open space and streetscapes, including:
- verges of major arterial roads that connect with facilities such as business districts, shopping centres, playgrounds, sports fields, schools and train stations
- parks adjacent to high density residential areas
- residential verges in high urban heat and low canopy suburbs
- the perimeter of active sports fields
- around playgrounds in passive recreation reserves
- industrial areas
The majority of plantings will contribute to the development of ecological linkages, with connections to remnant bushland, the Swan Canning River and coastal reserves.
| Local Government | Project Title | Project Summary | Total Funding Awarded (ex GST) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bassendean | Hamilton Street Reserve Urban Forest | The project will expand the urban forest cover within Hamilton Reserve (60 ha), which is surrounded by residential areas to the north and east and forms part of a regional ecological linkage with the Swan River. | $3,351 |
| Canning | Willeri Drive Street enhancement | The project will transform the prominent thoroughfare along Willeri Drive by planting along the principal shared pathway network that connects with Riverton Forum to increase active transportation, as well as link to existing biodiversity corridors. | $90,486 |
| Cottesloe | Greening Cottesloe | The project will infill plant street trees to ensure every property has at least one verge tree, and plant trees and understory in public open space, verges and roundabouts. | $11,770 |
| East Fremantle | Greening the Town | The project will plant a variety of trees and understorey across parks, sporting areas and streetscapes, including replacement of trees that died following the prolonged hot, dry summer. | $30,609.36 |
| Fremantle | Fremantle Green Linkages Project – Stage 2 | The project will implement the City's Green Links plan for Marine Terrace to further connect green corridors of the City and important community precincts. | $44,596 |
| Gosnells | Creating Habitat at Harmony Fields | The project will plant a 4.76 ha area of bare ground at Harmony Fields, a popular recreational park, to create habitat for threatened Black Cockatoo species, and cool the adjacent sporting field and residential area. | $168,493 |
| Mandurah | Reinviting nature back to Dawesville | The project will enhance tree canopy cover in parks and streetscapes, providing shade around playground equipment and improving ecological linkages. | $40,000 |
| Mosman Park | Tom Perrott Corridor and Minum Cover Park | The project will plant trees along an established pathway in Tom Perrott Oval and in Minum Cove Park, both of which are well utilised by the community and connect with natural areas along the Swan River. | $35,305.10 |
| Rockingham | City of Rockingham Urban Canopy Enhancement 2025 | The project will plant trees and understorey across reserves and streetscapes in lower socioeconomic areas of the City to support the wellbeing of the community, biodiversity and ecosystem processes. | $135,205.15 |
| Serpentine Jarrahdale | Greening of Streets, Reserves and Rain Gardens in Byford and Serpentine | The project will enhance canopy in urban developments, create ecological corridors, assist in the infiltration and cleaning of stormwater, and create cockatoo food gardens in reserves. | $50,026 |
| Stirling | Green Spaces Cooler Places | The project will deliver urban greening across high density residential suburbs, public open spaces, major arterial roads and industrial areas. | $334,174.12 |
| Swan | Urban Tree Canopy - Street Tree Planting | The project will accelerate the development of canopy across verges in the suburb of Ellenbrook, an area of high density residential housing with only 6% canopy cover. | $71,978 |
| Vincent | Increasing and replacing canopy within the City of Vincent | The project will increase canopy by infill planting streets to create continuous canopy, as well as replacing non-local street tree species that died from drought stress over the recent summer with drought tolerant WA native species. The project will also create new native gardens at Hyde Park to address tree loss due to the Polyphagous Shot-hole borer. | $139,671 |
| Wanneroo | Neerabup Road Tree and Shrub Greening Project | The project will plant new vegetation along a pathway on a 1.4 km stretch of Neerabup Road, which currently has less than 5% canopy cover, to provide shade and local cooling of the pathway that connects to the Clarkson Train station and the surrounding residential and commercial areas. | $41,500 |
