Deadline Approaching For Tree Planting Grant Applications

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - Time is running out to apply for federal grants that can help pay for planting trees and restoring native vegetation in the Great Lakes region.

The U.S. Forest Service says it expects to distribute about $3.7 million this year with funding from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a program designed to make progress on the region's top environmental problems.

Officials say the funding will be competitively awarded to the best proposals received through Friday.

Grants will be distributed across three program areas — reducing the effects of the invasive emerald ash borer; using green infrastructure to reduce runoff from degraded sites, and improving coastal wetland filtration.

Application information is available at http://www.grants.gov.