Minneapolis and Hennepin County residents should soon have access to $18 million in federal funding to help low-income homeowners remove and replace trees infested with the emerald ash borer.

The Hennepin County Board accepted a $10 million grant Tuesday from the U.S. Forest Service, which is distributing money from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Minneapolis leaders OK'd a similar $8 million grant last year.

The money will primarily be used to pay for the removal and replacement of ash trees infested with the emerald ash borer. The borer was first found in Hennepin County in 2010 and is expected to kill more than a million ash trees, roughly 15% of the county's tree canopy.

Removing an infested ash tree can cost thousands of dollars. In Minneapolis, residents who cannot pay up front can end up having the cost added to their property taxes — driving up housing costs.

Hennepin County Board Chair Irene Fernando said she heard from so many frustrated residents about tree removal costs being added to their property taxes that she wrote to Minneapolis Park Board members in November, asking them to change course.

"It is unreasonable to place this amount of financial burden on residents," Fernando wrote. She said the tree removal costs have a "pronounced and disparate impact" on low-income and residents of color, including in north Minneapolis where she lives.

Fernando's November letter urged the Park Board to find state and federal funds to help offset the costs. She noted recently that the grant money heading to the county could not be used to pay for previously removed trees.

The resolution asking the County Board to approve the federal grant acknowledges that Hennepin County has some of the lowest rates of homeownership in the nation for people of color. The resolution also said that lower-income homeowners were unlikely to replace trees that were removed due to emerald ash borer because of the cost.

"We pursued this funding specifically due to the response we heard from the community about the financial burden relating to tree condemnations associated with emerald ash borer," said John Evans of the county's Environment and Energy Department.

The grant money should last for about five years and Hennepin County leaders plan to plant two trees for every one they remove, for a total of about 4,500 new trees, Evans said. In addition to helping low-income residents pay to remove infested ash trees, the federal grant money will be used to improve the tree canopy in neighborhoods with few mature trees and little shade.

County leaders plan to hire at least three people to help administer the grant and will also expand opportunities for residents to learn more about tree care and forestry careers, Evans said. An informational campaign about the tree replacement program is planned for later this year.

Commissioner Debbie Goettel said the grant money would also help the county reach its goal of planting a million trees. "This is wonderful and it is going to where it is needed," Goettel said. "This couldn't have come at a better time."