News Release
Up to $100,000 available for Central Oregon woodland owners
to reduce wildfire risk, create healthier forests
Submit applications to the Natural Resources Conservation
Service by May 22
Release No. 2015.04.027
Contact:
Tom Bennett, Resource Conservationist
541-923-4358, x123, Tom.Bennett@or.usda.gov
Tracy Robillard, Public Affairs Specialist
503-414-3220, Tracy.Robillard@or.usda.gov
Portland, Ore. (April 27, 2015) -- The USDA Natural
Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announces up to $100,000 in funding
available for woodland owners in Deschutes, Jefferson and Crook counties to
improve the health of their woods and reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire.
Interested landowners should submit applications to the USDA
Redmond Service Center by May 22 to be considered for financial assistance.
The funding is available only to private, non-industrial
woodland owners and will be primarily used to perform pre-commercial thinning
on private forestlands. This is a popular conservation practice that involves
removing smaller, unhealthy trees within dense and overcrowded woods. The
funding will also support other related conservation practices, such as woody
residue treatment and forest pruning.
“By thinning timber stands in dense forests, we remove the
excess vegetation that provides fuel for wildfires to spread higher into the
canopy -- where wildfire causes the most damage,” said Tom Bennett, NRCS
resource conservationist. “Fires in overstocked stands are hotter, harder to
fight, and are more likely to kill all the trees.”
“Thinning also promotes more organic matter in the soil and
leads to stronger, healthier trees,” Bennett said. “The remaining trees are
less prone to disease and bugs, and are more drought tolerant.”
Eligible landowners may receive payments as high as $400 per
acre to treat a heavy timber stand, depending on the types of practices applied
and the forest density.
The funding is provided through the Environmental Quality
Incentives Program (EQIP), a voluntary conservation program authorized by
Congress in the 2014 Farm Bill. Read more about EQIP eligibility and
application requirements on the NRCS Oregon EQIP webpage.
NRCS will rank applications and prioritize them based on significant
impacts to forest resources and wildfire threats to local communities. Priority
areas include high-density forests around the cities of Bend, Sisters and La Pine
in Deschutes County, and residential developments in Crook and Jefferson
counties.
“We are focusing on areas where there is a higher need to
reduce catastrophic wildfire risk to protect life, property, and public
infrastructure,” Bennett said.
NRCS is partnering with the Oregon Department of Forestry to
treat at-risk forestlands in the tri-county area. The two agencies estimate
there are approximately 2,500 acres of overstocked, privately owned forests in
these high-priority areas that could benefit from this project. NRCS aims to
treat 60 percent of those acres between 2013 and 2017.
For more information about this and other NRCS programs and
funding in Deschutes, Crook or Jefferson counties, contact the USDA Redmond
Service Center at 541-923-4358 or email Tom.Bennett@or.usda.gov. The Redmond
Service Center is located at 625 SE Salmon Avenue, Suite 4, in Redmond, Oregon.
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