The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will invest more than $46 million through the Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration Partnership for projects that mitigate wildfire risk, improve water quality, and restore healthy forest ecosystems on public and private lands. Funding for 37 projects includes $13 million for eight new projects and $33.3 million to complete work on 29 projects previously selected in 2019 and 2020. Through the projects, USDA’s Forest Service (FS) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) are working hand-in-hand with agricultural producers, forest landowners, and National Forest System lands to improve forest health using available Farm Bill conservation programs and other authorities.
“The Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration Partnership continues to provide an excellent example of the shared stewardship model,” said Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen. “The program enables federal, state, and local partners to work across boundaries and jurisdictions to accomplish joint management goals at a much larger scale.”
Added NRCS Acting Chief Kevin Norton, “These Joint Chiefs projects are proof positive of what can be achieved when there is collaboration at all levels – federal, state, and local. We’re proud to help continue these conservation partnerships and successes with these next eight projects.”
The eight new projects
The Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration Partnership enables NRCS and FS to collaborate with agricultural producers and forest landowners to invest in conservation and restoration at a big enough scale to make a difference. Working in partnership, and at this scale, helps reduce wildfire threats, protect water quality and supply, and improve wildlife habitat for at-risk species.
- Alabama and Florida: Sustaining Gains in Longleaf Pine Restoration Through Coordinated Cogongrass Control
- Alaska: Prince of Wales Landscape Restoration Partnership
- Idaho: North Fork Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project
- New Mexico: Sierra Blanca Restoration Partnership
- Oregon: Buttes to Basins - All Lands Forest Resiliency Project
- Oregon: Lake County All Lands Restoration Initiative
- Puerto Rico: Ecosystem Resilience Through Conservation Practices
- Tennessee: East Tennessee Aquatic Habitat for At Risk Species
Through the new three-year projects, landowners will work with local USDA experts and partners to apply targeted forestry management practices on their land, such as thinning, hazardous fuel treatments, fire breaks, and other systems to meet unique forestry challenges in their area.
Successful Partnerships
USDA has invested more than $247 million over seven years in Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration Partnership projects, which focus on areas where public forests and grasslands intersect with privately-owned lands. This year’s selections bring the total number of projects to 93.
Since 2014, these projects have delivered important forest and rangeland funding to 40 states and Puerto Rico. A partnership that has demonstrated success over the past few years is the Greater La Pine Basin Cohesive Strategy project in Oregon. This project reduced hazardous fuels on over 18,500 acres of federal and private lands. In July 2020, these treatments helped firefighters suppress the 393-acre Rosland Road fire, preventing it from spreading into the nearby community of La Pine, Ore.
Agricultural producers and forest landowners interested in a project to mitigate wildfire risk should contact their local USDA Service Center to learn if their land is eligible.
