WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 2024 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced awards of nearly $335 million to strengthen financial incentives for private forest landowners to manage their forests sustainably and to permanently conserve private forests in partnership with states. The funding was made possible thanks to investments from the Biden-Harris Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.
“Forests provide innumerable benefits to people and communities, and private forestlands make up more than half of all forests in the U.S.,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, we are helping to provide the resources private forest landowners need to keep working forests working so that future generations of Americans will be able to enjoy all the benefits they provide.”
Of the total funding, nearly $210 million was awarded as competitive grants to state agencies, for-profit entities and a broad array of non-profit organizations. These investments support activities like connecting underserved and small acreage landowners with emerging climate markets, state-endorsed cost share payment programs for forest management on private land, and state and non-profit programs that issue payments to landowners for practices that increase carbon sequestration and storage.
The funded proposals add financial incentives and opportunities to landowners to adopt sustainable forest management practices. Forest management, like thinning trees or removing invasive species, helps to reduce the susceptibility to forests pests and disease and lowers the risks of catastrophic wildfires.
For details on these funded proposals, visit the Forest Service Forest Landowner Support Funded Projects webpage.
Additionally, nearly $125 million will go to conserving 105,000 acres of forestlands in 10 states through the Forest Legacy Program. Through the program, states work with tribes, local communities, and landowners to identify important private forestlands and develop proposals to conserve these lands as forests. The Forest Service selects the top proposals for funding through a competitive, entirely voluntary process and provides grant funding to states. Some of this land will stay in private ownership and will be permanently protected and conserved as forests, while states will also purchase other parcels to be managed as public land.
These projects are in addition to nearly $420 million to conserve more than half a million acres through the Forest Legacy Program in 2024 alone.
For more on how the Forest Service works with states to conserve forests through this program, for a complete list of projects, or to learn how states can apply for fiscal year 2025 funding, visit the Forest Legacy Program webpage. States can also contact their Forest Service regional office for more information.
This grant funding supports the agency’s efforts to implement its wildfire crisis strategy. In January 2022, the Forest Service launched the Wildfire Crisis Strategy with the goal of safeguarding communities and the resources they depend on by increasing hazardous fuels treatments to reduce wildfire risk. This funding will help reduce wildfire risks on private and tribal lands.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. Under the Biden-Harris administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committed to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.
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