USDA PROVIDES $2.3 MILLION FOR NEW HEALTHY FORESTS RESERVE PROGRAM

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29, 2006—U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service Chief Arlen Lancaster today announced that $2.3 million will be provided to help forest landowners in Maine, Mississippi and Arkansas improve wildlife habitat for threatened or endangered species on private forestlands.

“The newly established Healthy Forests Reserve Program (HFRP) will help restore and enhance forest ecosystems, increase biodiversity, enhance carbon sequestration and provide assurances to landowners with regard to the recovery of threatened and endangered species on private forestlands,” Lancaster said.

Landowners enrolled 495,652 acres through 30 and 99-year easements and 10-year restoration agreements in HFRP, authorized in 2003. Landowners must develop and carry out a forest management restoration plan that includes conservation practices necessary to restore and enhance forested habitat for selected species listed as threatened or endangered, candidate species for listing, or state species of special concern. In cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NRCS provides technical and financial assistance to help landowners develop and implement their HFRP forest management restoration plan.

Eligible private forest landowners in selected counties in Maine, Mississippi and Arkansas applied for enrollment during the program’s first signup June 19-July 7, 2006. They will carry out conservation practices that will promote the recovery of the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker in the Lower Ouachita River Flatwood region of Arkansas, the Canada Lynx in the northern boreal forest of Maine, and the gopher tortoise and black pine snake in the longleaf pine ecosystem along Mississippi’s Gulf Coast.

Below is the breakdown of approved acres and funding by state:

Additional information about the Healthy Forests Reserve Program can be found at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/HFRP/ProgInfo/HFRPProgramInfo.html.

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