Partnership and Grant from USDA to assist AFF in its work with landowners

WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 20, 2021) – The American Forest Foundation (AFF), a national organization that works to deliver conservation impact through the empowerment of family forest owners, today announced it has received a grant totaling $350,000 from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to help family forest owners preserve and improve forested habitat for at-risk wildlife in Georgia.

 “Across the South, families and individuals own 65 percent of the forests, making them a key audience that must be engaged and supported if we are to achieve the conservation impact we all desire,” said Chris Erwin, Director of Southern Conservation for AFF. “Yet, these owners often lack the technical expertise needed when it comes to forest management. We at AFF are working to help landowners overcome these barriers through partnerships and tools that can help.”

The grant will be used to help educate and assist family and private forest owners with prescribed burn, a key forest management practice that improves the health of longleaf ecosystems.

“Prescribed burning is an integral part of maintaining longleaf pine ecosystems, a once-dominant habitat that is home to the gopher tortoise and red cockaded woodpecker,” said Terrance O. Rudolph, state conservationist for NRCS in Georgia. “We want to help more landowners restore and maintain this historic landscape and do so through conservation programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), among others. We are excited to partner with AFF and RC&D Councils on this important effort knowing these organizations have expertise and experience in providing additional assistance to family landowners.”

With the NRCS grant and other funding sources and partners, AFF has developed a multi-faceted approach to increasing landowner knowledge and confidence to implement prescribed burns and to help them initiate these practices in the project area. This includes:

• Creation of cooperative networks, in conjunction with local Georgia Resource Conservation & Development (RC&D) Councils to provide a platform to gather, share, educate, and implement sound forest management practices.

• Creation of 5 prescribed burn co-op trailers that will be equipped with the tools to implement a prescribed burn safely and successfully, which can be rented for a small fee.

• Expand AFF’s existing partnership with the to deliver one-on-one technical and financial assistance to landowners to enhance habitat and obtain species population data for at-risk wildlife on private lands.

AFF has a number of programs across the South to empower landowners to care for their woodlands in order to protect and reduce the number of at-risk species in this region. These programs include partnerships with federal, state and corporate partners to bring together resources and expertise to support landowners through the complex steps of forest management to cultivate a conservation impact of their forests. For more information on AFF’s work in the South, visit: https://www.forestfoundation.org/conservation-projects-south

Contact: Elizabeth Greener; (202) 253-1096; egreener@forestfoundation.org

About the American Forest Foundation

The American Forest Foundation (AFF), a forest conservation organization, works exclusively to empower family forest owners to make a meaningful conservation impact around wildlife habitat, clean water, carbon sequestration and storage and sustainable wood supplies. We work across a broad coalition of conservation partners, corporations, and policymakers to empower family forest landowners and make sure everybody understands, supports and values the work of these landowners. AFF's signature program, the American Tree Farm System® is the country's largest sustainable woodland program with a network of more than 70,000 family forest owners managing nearly 19 million acres of forestland. Learn more: www.forestfoundation.org.