SIMI VALLEY : Park District Gets Grant to Plant Trees

The Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District will receive a $119,000 grant to plant 1,200 trees along the Arroyo Simi, which will help fulfill parks officials’ dreams of creating a greenbelt in Simi Valley, a district official said.

The district will receive the money through a program run by the federal Small Business Administration, said Donald E. Hunt, assistant general manager of the park district.

The funds are expected to be received by the end of February, said Mary McCurdy, chairwoman of the local Freedom Tree Foundation, which is working with the park district to beautify the Arroyo Simi flood control channel.

The district will use the money to plant at least 20 different types of trees--including walnut, apricot and olive--along four miles of the pedestrian paths that run parallel to the flood channel.

Parks officials hope to create a tree-shaded canopy for bicyclists, joggers and horseback riders who use the paths in the area between Strathearn Historical Park on the west and Tapo Canyon Road on the east, Hunt said.

The tree-lined paths will connect several city parks that abut the arroyo, helping to create a greenbelt in the middle of the city, he said.

In keeping with the requirements of the SBA grant, the district will use only local nurseries and landscape firms with fewer than 100 employees for the project, Hunt said.

Local companies will be asked to bid on the work as early as this spring, he said.

Planting will probably begin about 30 days after bids are received, Hunt said.