USDA Announces New Program to Improve Forest Ecosystems

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., May  19, 2006 -- The Natural Resources Conservation Service is holding a landowners meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, June 12, at the Felsenthal NWR Auditorium in Crossett to discuss the Healthy Forests Reserve Program designed to help landowners enhance habitat for the red-cockaded woodpecker.

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

 "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. "The Healthy Forests Reserve Program is an additional tool to advance the goals of the President's Healthy Forests Initiative and I encourage eligible landowners to participate."

“This program will be available in four watersheds in Southern Arkansas to benefit the red-cockaded woodpecker,” said Arkansas Natural Resources Conservation Service state biologist Jimmy Baker. The watersheds include parts of Ouachita, Calhoun, Union, Bradley, Ashley and Drew counties.

“Private lands are a critical element in connecting suitable habitat blocks and creating additional habitat for woodpecker benefit,” he said. “The birds require pine forests with lower timber density and larger trees than what normally occurs on lands where timber production is the main emphasis.  Prescribed fire and timely thinning create the structural conditions that these birds need for foraging and nesting, and will also benefit many other wildlife species such as deer, black bears, wild turkeys, bobwhite quail and many others.”

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.  Eligible land must be privately owned.

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. In exchange, the program participant will avoid future regulatory restrictions on the use of that land protected under the Endangered Species Act.

HFRP is a voluntary conservation program. 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.

For more information on the meeting, contact your local district conservationist or Andrew James at (501) 301-3114.

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