Aaron Sawatsky-Kingsley

Funding is back on for a massive foresting effort and job training program in Goshen. This is $1 million in federal grant money that was paused for over a month. The Urban Forestry program, funded by the U.S. Forest Service, is designed to create jobs in agriculture, tree plating and horticulture while actively growing thousands of trees in the city. After being on hold for a month, everyone is back to work with the same ambitions, but they’re also looking over their shoulder in case of another pause. Aaron Sawatsky-Kingsley had just purchased 360 trees from a local nursery when he got the email from the U.S. Forest Service. He was told all grant money was paused until further notice. Sawatsky-Kingsley says there was no notice as to why the money was restored, and no guarantees about what oversight could lead to another pause in the future.