The Delaware Forest Service has established a forest resiliency fund to help combat forest loss.
The Delaware Forest Service received a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Forest Service to establish the Delaware Forest Resiliency Fund.
"That grant is to help landowners implement practices to help improve forest resiliency, help combat forest loss and things related to that,” said Upham. “Eligible practices for that would be tree planting, prescribed fire practices and invasive species control."
That’s Laura Upham, forest stewardship coordinator with the Delaware Forest Service. She says the fund is open to all landowners.
That includes non-industrial private forest land owners, homeowners associations, nonprofits, municipalities and county governments.
The projects must be at least three acres in size, and eligible landowners can’t own more than 10,000 forested acres.
Tree planting projects have no maximum payment, but invasive species removal and prescribed fire projects have a cap of $10,000 per landowner.
Upham says this fund joins other options already offered.
"They include our existing state cost share program, which only has a 50% match or programs through the natural resources conservation services, which just take a little bit longer and can be a little bit more cumbersome. So we're hoping having a program that pays all are nearly all depending on eligibility requirements will help land owners implement these practices more effectively and faster," said Upham.
Applications for the Delaware Forest Resiliency Fund can be found at the Department of Agriculture’s webpage.
