Arthur Johnson has lived in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward for nearly three decades, long enough to appreciate the trees that filter pollution from the big ships traveling the nearby Mississippi River and that offer shade on sweltering summer days.

When Hurricane Katrina roared through two decades ago, it wiped out 200,000 trees across the city, including many in Johnson’s neighborhood and several in his own yard. The city has struggled ever since to restore its tree canopy.

Those efforts will be set back by the U.S. Forest Service’s decision in mid-February to terminate a $75 million grant to the Arbor Day Foundation, which was working to plant trees in neighborhoods that might not otherwise be able to afford them. The program is the latest victim of a drive by President Donald Trump’s administration against environmental justice initiatives.

In New Orleans, part of the money was going to the environmental group Sustaining Our Urban Landscape, which has planted more than 1,600 trees in the historically Black community but has now paused plans for another 900.

Those are trees that largely low-income residents otherwise couldn’t afford to plant or maintain, said the 71-year-old Johnson, who runs a local nonprofit, the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development, that has helped SOUL with its work and done some tree plantings of its own in the area.

“You’re not just cutting out the tree, the environment” with such cuts, Johnson said. If those trees aren’t replaced and more aren’t continually added, “it really takes a toll on the sustainability of the Lower 9th Ward and its community.”

The benefits of trees are vast. They capture stormwater and replenish groundwater. They help clean the air in polluted areas, improve mental health and cool air and surfaces of the built environment, especially during heat waves that are growing more intense and frequent with climate change.

A study by the UCLA Luskin Center found that shade can reduce heat stress on the human body from 25% to 35% throughout the day.

Much research shows low-income and communities of color have fewer trees — and are hotter — than better-off neighborhoods.

The Arbor Day Fund’s grant was part of former President Joe Biden’s signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, which sent $1.5 billion to the forest service’s Urban and Community Forestry program. In a Feb. 14 email canceling the grant, the Forest Service wrote that the award “no longer effectuates agency priorities regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and activities.”

But Dan Lambe, the Arbor Day Foundation’s chief executive, said the projects weren’t just going to serve disadvantaged people. They were going to benefit every member of the community, he said. In total, 105 nonprofits, municipalities and Indigenous organizations — from Alaska to Florida to Maine — have lost funding for critical environmental projects, the foundation said.

“This was an opportunity to make a really meaningful impact on people’s lives, so it’s been disappointing,” Lambe said.

The Forest Service didn’t say if other recipients of the $1.5 billion forestry investment also had grants terminated. In a statement, its parent agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said the agency was following directions to comply with Trump’s executive orders.

For SOUL in New Orleans, losing the grant means they don’t have the money to water trees already planted, and they’ve had to drop plans to hire three people.

Another $2.5 million grant is on hold due to the federal funding freeze, and founder and executive director Susannah Burley said the nonprofit’s survival is uncertain. Its annual budget is a little more than $1 million.

“We kind of are lost because we don’t know if we should be planning to close our doors or if we should be planning for next season,” she said.