Assistance for Forest Landowners Forest Management and Stewardship Plans PA

Financial and technical assistance available to private forest landowners

"The Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), a branch of the US Department of Agriculture, works with landowners through conservation planning and assistance designed to benefit the soil, water, air, plants, and animals that result in productive lands and healthy ecosystems. On Thursday, January 8, 2015, at the Cumberland Woodland Owners’ Association meeting, Diana Dellinger, NRCS District Conservationist, will speak about financial and technical assistance available to private forest landowners for improvements to their property. The meeting will be held at 7:00 P.M. at the Cumberland County Extension Office which is located at 310 Allen Road in Carlisle. You do not have to be a member and there is no cost to attend.

Using Farm Bill funds, the NRCS provides federal cost-share funding to private forest landowners for a variety of resource concerns through the following programs:

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is a voluntary program that provides financial and technical assistance to forest landowners through contracts between 2-4 years in length. These contracts provide financial assistance to help plan and implement conservation practices that address natural resource concerns and for opportunities to improve soil, water, plant, animal, air and related resources on non-industrial private forestland.

Owners/managers of eligible non-industrial private forest production or land being proposed for conversion to forest land who have a natural resource concern on the land may participate in EQIP. In Pennsylvania, the primary purpose of this program is to improve lands for wildlife habitat or reduce erosion or water quality problems. Applicants can apply for funding for forestry practices implementation or for a Forest Management Plan (CAP 106). Applicants without a Forest Stewardship Plan or a Forest Management Plan (CAP 106) will be assigned a low priority for implementation funding. Also, forest landowners in the Golden Winged Warbler Area can also apply for funding to create habitat for the Golden Winged Warbler.

Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) encourages land stewards to improve their conservation performance by installing and adopting additional activities, and improving, maintaining, and managing existing activities on agricultural land and non-industrial private forest land.

Your DCNR Service Forester and the National Resource Conservation Service can help you navigate the application process for any of these programs. NRCS maintains offices across the state as part of the USDA Service Centers, single locations where you can access the services of NRCS, the Farm Service Agency and the Rural Development agencies.

The Cumberland Woodland Owners Association is an organization of forestland owners and others interested in forestry issues in south central Pennsylvania. For more information about the meeting or the Cumberland Woodland Owners Association, contact Fred Peabody at 717/776-3565 (email: fredp5@earthlink.net)."

In Northeastern Pennsylvania, a lot of the NRCS outreach is through the Pocono Northeast RC&D Council.