SOUTHERN PINE BEETLE ASSISTANCE AND PREVENTION PROGRAM NOW OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS
Apply by July 26, 2024
The Southern Pine Beetle (SPB) Assistance and Prevention Program is offered to eligible non-industrial private forest landowners by the Florida Forest Service (FFS) through temporary grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service. The program offers partial cost reimbursement or incentive payments for forest management practices that can improve the health of pine stands and decrease their likelihood of developing southern pine beetle infestations. These practices include thinning, prescribed burning, other vegetative competition control, and use of less-susceptible pine species. Get more details and an application at the FFS SPB Assistance and Prevention Program web page. Find your FFS County Forester here.
HURRICANE IDALIA SILIVICULTURE RECOVERY PROGRAM NOW OPEN FOR ENROLLMENT
Apply by June 30, 2024
Last call before the application period closes! The Florida Forest Service’s Hurricane Idalia Silviculture Recovery Program is designed to ensure the long-term viability of Florida’s forest lands and restore the ecological and economic value of timberland damaged by Hurricane Idalia. The program offers landowners cost-share funding specifically for site preparation and tree replanting on classified agricultural lands. It is administered by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Florida Forest Service and funded by the state of Florida.
To be eligible for the program, practice sites must have been forested on August 30, 2023, and experienced significant timber damage that impacted the future viability of the stand as a direct result of Hurricane Idalia. Qualified applicants are limited to timber landowners in Charlotte, Citrus, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Hernando, Jefferson, Lafayette, Levy, Madison, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Sarasota, Suwannee and Taylor counties, whose timber experienced significant damage from Hurricane Idalia.
The program is currently open for applications at the online portal or by mail. Please visit https://IdaliaTimberRecovery.fdacs.gov to apply. Applications will be accepted until June 30, 2024.
GOT PLANS TO PLANT TREES THIS FALL OR WINTER? GET SEEDLING ORDERS IN THIS SUMMER
If you have plans and/or cost-share funding to plant trees this coming fall or winter, make every effort to get your seedling orders placed by the first week of July. Several pine seedling varieties sell out fast. Demand is particularly high for longleaf pine stock. Now is the time to get your 2024-2025 cool season planting plans ready to go. Get the latest tips in our extension publication, Planting Southern Pines in Florida.
GET YOUR FARM RECORDS COMPLETED NOW TO BE ELIGIBLE TO APPLY FOR USDA HURRICANE RECOVERY ASSISTANCE
Storm season is here. As a part of your hurricane preparation activities, you should have your farm records completed with USDA Farm Service Agency. Within weeks of a major storm or other disaster, recovery assistance for agricultural producers and landowners will likely be authorized. The USDA Farm Service Agency administers several disaster recovery programs aimed at providing financial assistance to farmers and landowners in order for them to clean up debris, replant crops and trees, replace damaged equipment and infrastructure, and implement other recovery activities.
This part is really important: If you have not worked with USDA before, you will need to make an appointment with the Farm Service Agency at your local USDA Service Center to complete some forms and ensure your eligibility when assistance programs become available. Get this step done now if you haven’t yet. For more information about getting started with USDA see https://www.farmers.gov/working-with-us.
Find your local USDA Service Center here.
REPORT YOUR WILD TURKEY SIGHTINGS THIS SUMMER
Reporting open through August 31, 2024
In addition to slowing down a bit and spending some time by the water, summertime means keeping an eye out for turkeys! The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC’s) 2024 wild turkey summer survey has launched. Landowners, citizen scientists, conservationists, hunters, and other outdoor enthusiasts are invited to take part in this important annual survey. Your observations help FWC biologists learn more about annual nesting success, brood survival, distribution, and abundance of wild turkeys in Florida. Learn more and participate in the summer 2024 wild turkey observation project here.
GULF COASTAL PLAIN ECOSYSTEM PARTNERSHIP (GCPEP) LONGLEAF PINE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
The GCPEP Longleaf Assistance Program includes incentives for longleaf establishment, stand improvement, and prescribed fire. It is available to landowners within the GCPEP project area. This includes Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, and Holmes Counties west of the Choctawhatchee River in Florida; and Baldwin, Escambia, Covington, Conecuh, Coffee, and Geneva and Dale Counties west of the Choctawhatchee River in Alabama. Habitat improvements must be within existing longleaf stands, mixed stands, or to establish new longleaf forests. Incentives can cover up to $100/ac. for establishment, up to $50/ac. for stand improvement, or $15/ac for prescribed fire, not to exceed 50% of landowner costs. For more information contact the Program Coordinator: Jacob Barrett, jacob@longleafalliance.org, (478) 230-4761.
YOUR INPUT NEEDED ON A PINE PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS PLAN (P4)
High impact invasive pests and diseases may threaten pine forests in the Southeastern U.S. In response, a volunteer group of scientists, forest health specialists, and managers have created the Pine Pandemic Preparedness Plan (P4) to provide proactive guidelines for stakeholders to respond rapidly, efficiently, and effectively to any new pest outbreak in our forests. The P4 is meant to be a proactive approach, usable by anyone, flexible, and portable across regions. This group is soliciting your input on this draft plan and your forest health information needs via a short online survey. The survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Please participate if you can:
Forest landowners: Participate in the forest landowner P4 survey here.
Organization or Agency personnel: Participate in the agency and organization P4 survey here.
CHECK OUT THE NEW PROFOREST “PODFOREST” PODCAST
Immerse yourself in the world of forestry through extension as ProForest coordinator Dr. Tyler Carney hosts guests to talk about all things forestry. Listeners can join each episode to listen to a new guest and learn about different forestry topics. Curated for private forest landowners but interesting to all, this podcast was created as an Extension product of the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). Learn more and listen to available PodForest episodes.
ENROLL IN THE ONLINE FOREST LANDOWNER ACADEMY
Need a good self-paced primer on forestry and forest stewardship? Don’t have time to attend workshops and other events? The UF/IFAS School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Science’s online Forest Landowner Academy is for you.
The course modules cover a wide range of topics including prescribed burning, marketing forest products, and hunting leases. Forest landowners, and others in need of forest management information, are encouraged to enroll in this award-winning, self-paced, online, 7-module course to connect with forest management experts at the University of Florida and receive quality core educational content on forestry and multiple-use stewardship concepts.
Learn more about the Academy, read some feedback about it from current enrollees, and find a discount code in Suzette Cook’s article about the course in the Spring/Summer 2024 issue of Florida Forests magazine.
Questions about the course can be directed to Chris Demers, cdemers@ufl.edu, (352) 846-2375; or Michael Andreu, mandreu@ufl.edu.
GET FLORIDA LAND STEWARD EMAIL UPDATES
Don’t miss out on news and events! Sign up for the regular email updates! Send an email to Chris at cdemers@ufl.edu to be added to the email listserv. Florida Land Steward email updates are sent once a week or every other week and include the latest calendar of workshops, tours and other events; a link to the current issue of the quarterly Florida Land Steward newsletter; updates on cost-share and other assistance programs, opportunities, and resources; and other stewardship related news and information.
UPCOMING EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
See our Events Calendar and News page for upcoming events and ongoing programs, initiatives, and opportunities.
ACCESS THE QUARTERLY FLORIDA LAND STEWARD NEWSLETTER ONLINE
Access the current and back issues of the quarterly Florida Land Steward newsletter here.
HAVE AN EVENT OR RELATED NEWS TO SHARE?
Drop a line with the details and link(s) to Chris at cdemers@ufl.edu.
CONSIDER A GIFT IN SUPPORT OF THE UF/IFAS FLORIDA LAND STEWARD PROGRAM
The mission of the UF/IFAS Florida Land Steward Program is to help and encourage private landowners to actively manage their land resources for long-term environmental, economic, and social benefits. This program is largely supported by partners and donors. If this program has made a difference in your land stewardship efforts, please consider a gift. Support the UF/IFAS Florida Land Steward Program here. Thanks!
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