COLUMBUS, Ohio — The City of Columbus has joined a federal lawsuit in anticipation of funding cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency for a grant that would pay for more than 1,000 trees planted in “historically Black neighborhoods.”
City Attorney Zach Klein announced in a news release that Columbus has spent $393,930 of a $500,000 urban forestry grant it expected the Recreation and Parks Department to reimburse by way of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The City sought the grant to “further expand its tree canopy through the purchase and plantings of approximately 1,250 diverse, large-class street trees in disadvantaged areas.”
“In Columbus, neighborhoods targeted for tree planting were data driven — the areas selected lacked trees compared to other parts of town,” Klein said. “Yet DOGE algorithms seem to have haphazardly targeted this important initiative that will lead to better health outcomes, air quality and home values for our residents simply because it was a historically Black neighborhood.”
Columbus is one of more than a dozen plaintiffs in the complaint filed in a federal court in South Carolina. The document names President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, DOGE and other government officials and agencies as defendants. According to the lawsuit, the city became concerned that it would not receive the grant money on Feb. 18, when ODNR sent a letter
to the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department. The letter stated that the U.S. Forestry Service was not processing Ohio’s reimbursement requests and that the city should “temporarily suspend expenses against their grant, given the risk that expenses would not be reimbursed.”
However, after submitting a “Sub Awardee Request for Reimbursement(s)” to ODNR for $393,930, an ODNR email confirmed the grant was “approved for implementation” on March 13. The court filing reflects the city’s fear that the federal government will “continue to turn this grant on and off and may well not ultimately reimburse the city for the full amount of eligible expenses.” Despite the uncertainty of the City’s request for compensation, the $500,000 USDA-originated grant does not appear on the DOGE website.
