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Make your
woods bird
friendly with
forest grant
The Last Green Valley and its partners announced the next round of $6.1 million Southern New England Heritage Forest Grant Program.
The funds are available to improve woodland habitat for important bird species and to manage woods for wildlife and people. The offer comes from The Last Green Valley (TLGV), the MassConn Sustainable Forest Partnership (MassConn) and the Northern Rhode Island Conservation District (NRICD).
This program is ideally suited for landowners who have never had a forest management plan and own more than 10 acres of woodlands.
Program requirements vary by state. To get started, contact the lead partner for your state. The partners can assist with the application process. The application deadline for Connecticut and Rhode Island is Dec. 31, but it’s recommended you begin the process early to ensure the application is complete before the deadline. Visit www.thelastgreenvalley.org for links to the application materials, including a list of communities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island that are included in this program.
A professional forester will walk your property and coordinate with the Audubon society in your state to produce a high-quality forest management plan with a bird habitat assessment of your woods. The plan will recommend measures you can take to improve the health of your woods. The plan will meet federal and state requirements and may be used to apply for property tax reductions at the local level (where applicable).
Grant funds are available to pay for most of the forester’s costs and to completely fund the bird habitat assessments. Landowners will be responsible for choosing a forester from an approved list and paying for a percentage of the total cost of the forest management plan.
The program is part of the $6.1 million Southern New England Heritage Forest conservation effort, an unprecedented three-state collaboration made possible through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The NRCS funding is being matched, bringing the economic infusion into the region to $12.2 million.
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