USDA ANNOUNCES NEW PROGRAM TO IMPROVE FOREST ECOSYSTEMS

WASHINGTON, May 18, 2006—Agriculture Under Secretary Mark Rey today announced the availability of $2.3 million for the Healthy Forests Reserve Program (HFRP) in selected forest ecosystems.

“Through cooperative conservation, private landowners can restore and enhance forest ecosystems to promote the recovery of threatened and endangered species, improve biodiversity, reduce the risk of catastrophic fire, and enhance carbon sequestration,” said Rey. “We will work with our partners at the Departments of Interior and Commerce to advance the President’s Healthy Forests Initiative.”

HFRP will focus on habitat recovery for 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 in the longleaf pine ecosystem along the gulf coast of Mississippi.

Interested landowners must develop a restoration plan that includes conservation practices necessary to restore and enhance forested habitat for species listed as threatened or endangered, or species that are candidates for the threatened or endangered species list. NRCS will provide technical assistance to help participants develop and implement their HFRP restoration plans.

Additionally, eligible land must be privately owned land that will protect, restore, and enhance habitat and the recovery of a threatened or endangered species; improve biological diversity, or increase carbon sequestration.

Three enrollment options will be available to eligible landowners: a 10-year cost-share agreement where the landowner may receive up to 50 percent of the cost of approved conservation practices, a 30-year easement where the landowner may receive up to 75 percent of the easement value of the enrolled land plus up to 75 percent of the cost of approved habitat conservation practices, or an easement of not more than 99 years where the landowner could receive up to 100 percent of the easement value of the enrolled land plus the cost of approved habitat conservation practices.

Landowner protections will be made available to HFRP participants who agree to restore or improve their land for threatened or endangered species habitat for a net conservation benefit to the species. In exchange, the program participant will avoid future regulatory restrictions on the use of that land protected under the Endangered Species Act.

HFRP, a voluntary conservation program administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), will help people help the land by restoring and enhancing forest ecosystems to promote the recovery of threatened and endangered species, improve biodiversity and enhance carbon sequestration. An interim final rule with request for public comments was published in the Federal Register on May 17, 2006. All comments received during the 90-day public comment period will be considered in developing a final rule.

NRCS State conservationists will announce the geographic eligibility areas and state sign-up periods. Additional information on HFRP is available at: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/HFRP/ProgInfo?HFRPProgramInfo.html.
The Healthy Forests Reserve Program interim final rule can be viewed at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html.

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