August 30, 2023 - The USDA Forest Service is investing in 18 projects in nine Southern states and Puerto Rico to restore forests across state and private lands.
These funded projects mark the first time the agency has made Landscape Scale Restoration program grants directly available to federally recognized tribes and Alaska Native Corporations to restore priority forest landscapes on tribal lands, including trust lands, reservation lands, and other lands owned by tribes.
"Threats to forests like wildfires, insects, and disease do not stop at jurisdictional boundaries, which is why these investments in healthy and resilient forests extend beyond boundary lines," said Forest Service Chief Randy Moore. "These grants are critical for improving the nation’s forests that provide a range of environmental, social, and economic benefits to the American people."
In the Southeast, protecting wildlife habitat, conserving threatened and endangered species, and restoring longleaf pine are important priorities to ensure continued economic productivity of rural working lands.
The following projects were selected for funding in the Southern Region:
- Georgia – $200,000 for Landowner Legacy Phase II: Supporting education and outreach to next generation landowners.
- Georgia - $310,000 for Sustainable wood sourcing, healthy forests and the well-being of the rural South.
- Kentucky - $280,000 for developing a Kentucky Invasive Plant Strike Team
- Kentucky - $470,000 for tree canopy resiliency community engagement
- Louisiana - $120,000 for analysis of timber and carbon availability in the state
- Louisiana - $600,000 for increasing longleaf pine restoration through partnerships
- Mississippi - $176,000 for Carbon and timber market forest management strategy implementation
- North Carolina - $200,000 for forestry workforce promotion and training program
- Oklahoma - $122,000 for forestry workforce development
- Puerto Rico - $340,000 for enhancing habitat connectivity in subtropical dry forests
- South Carolina - $122,000 for forestry workforce development
- Texas - $175,000 for Community Forest products: Planting seeds for full circle management
- Texas - $125,000 for recycled water for tree planting
- Texas - $99,000 for restoring the Dogwood Trail
- Texas - $150,000 for riparian reforestation in smaller, high-risk neighborhoods
- Texas - $225,000 for Shaded ReLeaf: Canopy equity in the South Texas border region
- Virginia - $319,000 for developing long term forest management in Western Virginia
- Virginia - $376,500 for engaging and developing contractors for hardwood management
"The Landscape Scale Restoration program truly helps us serve our communities throughout the South," said Ken Arney, regional forester for the Southern Region. “By implementing such projects, we are investing in and strengthening ecosystems and forest resiliency across shared landscapes.”
The Forest Service will invest a total of $16.2 million in fiscal year 2023 across the nation to help tribes, state agencies, local governments, and partners restore healthy, resilient, climate-adapted forests. A complete list of funded projects for Fiscal Year 2023 is available here: Landscape Scale Restoration 2023 Funded Projects | US Forest Service (usda.gov)
Grounded in world-class science and technology - and rooted in communities - the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service connects people to nature and each other. As a federal agency in service to the American people, the Forest Service cares for shared natural resources in ways that promote lasting economic, ecological, and social vitality. In doing this, the agency supports nature in sustaining life. To learn more about the Forest Service, visit Home | US Forest Service (usda.gov)
