Saplings at Kin Beach Park (file photo by Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

By Liam Verster

Grant For 59 New Trees

Vernon seeking grants for trees at Kin Beach Park

Sep 4, 2025 | 11:04 AM

The City of Vernon is seeking outside funding so more trees can be planted at a park on Okanagan Lake.

Following a tree health risk assessment, a total of 22 mature Poplar trees from Kin Beach Park were removed this past spring, as they were found to be at the end of their lifespan and posed a high risk of storm damage that could cause a hazard to people and property.

The city wants to replace those trees and has identified the opportunity to plant 59 new drought-tolerant shade trees in the park, with the main concentration along the waterfront edge. Those would consist of 22 maple trees, 22 honeylocust trees, and a combined total of 15 oak and linden trees.

The proposed sites for new trees at Kin Beach Park (image courtesy of the City of Vernon)

A report presented to the Vernon City Council stated that the total cost to plant these trees would be approximately $60,000, although it noted that this could be offset by applying for grant funding offered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Growing Canada’s Community Canopies (GCCC) initiative.

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That program offers grants to fund up to 50 per cent of the costs for tree planting projects, and Council voted in favour of applying for the grant of $30,000 at the regular meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 2.

“These are grant opportunities with the province which match what we’re already trying to do, and those are the types of grants that we apply for on a regular basis,” Mayor Victor Cumming told Vernon Matters.

“We have the long-term pre-plan in place, and when the province provides the potential for funds to offset some of the costs that we’re expecting, then absolutely we apply for contributions from the province to these good projects that we’re already planning and already ready to go ahead with.”

If successful in the application, the city would cover the rest of the costs by allocating funding from the Parks Reserve, which had a balance of $59,081 as of Tuesday, Sept. 2.

The Mayor added that the new trees they plant would not replace any of the ones already established at Kin Beach Park.