The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service is providing $190 million to help private forest owners adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change and preserve usable forest lands.

“Climate change threatens people, communities, infrastructure and natural resources across the country,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. “Healthy, resilient forests can better withstand the impacts of climate change and contribute to climate solutions by storing additional carbon. Thanks to President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, we are working with states and nonprofits to reduce financial barriers for landowners seeking to adopt climate-smart forestry practices and make their lands more resilient to climate change. These strategic investments represent our commitment to an all-state, all-stakeholder approach to investing in rural communities and curbing the climate crisis.”

Preventing low-intensity, regenerative fires in fire-dependent forests over the long term already poses a challenge to forest health in the Pacific Northwest. The Forest Service is addressing this problem through its Wildfire Crisis Strategy and other fuel reduction programs.

Continued climate warming and associated changes in rainfall and drought cycles are increasing the risks even further. Past and predicted climate changes are exacerbating stress on native trees and other vegetation, affecting water temperature, quality and supply, and contributing to hotter, drier conditions and increased fuel quantities that can cause larger and more intense wildfires.

“The Forest Service has a number of programs in place to support forest health and climate resilience for private landowners whose lands are just as vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and wildfire as the federal lands we manage,” said Chad Davis, director of state, private and tribal forestry for the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region. “The only effective way to address a challenge of this magnitude is to make coordinated investments in necessary management actions on public and private lands.”

Of the total, $140 million is available to support state-sponsored cost-share programs for landowners. Cost-share payments lower the financial barriers for landowners to adapt to climate change by making forests more resilient to changing climate conditions and storing more carbon in the landscape. For example, a landowner might decide to work with states and nonprofits to strategically thin their private forest lands by removing small-diameter trees that compete for scarce resources, allowing large trees to grow larger and sequester more carbon.

In addition, $50 million is available for programs that make payments directly to landowners to adopt practices that increase carbon sequestration and storage in their forests. Forest management impacts the amount of carbon stored and sequestered, and this funding opportunity encourages responsible carbon management. The payments fund work and provide financial incentives to preserve land as forest rather than convert it to other uses. Eligible applicants include state forest agencies, their counterparts, and nonprofit organizations.

“We all benefit from the forests we enjoy in the Pacific Northwest. This funding is designed to support these private forest owners and help ensure that these lands remain forested and continue to clean our air, store carbon, cool rivers, provide habitat for wildlife and strengthen our economy – for us and for future generations,” Davis said.

Private forests and private forest owners are key to addressing the climate crisis. More than 60% of forests in the United States are managed by private landowners. These vast tracts of privately managed forests are key to the carbon cycle and represent an important climate solution, absorbing and storing enormous amounts of carbon for decades.

The Forest Service is committed to helping landowners manage their forests in a changing climate. In addition to these investments, the agency recently announced it would allocate $145 million from the Inflation Mitigation Act to projects that connect private forest owners with emerging climate markets.

For more information about available funding opportunities, including eligibility and how to apply, visit the Forest Landowner Support webpage at https://www.fs.usda.gov/about-agency/state-private-tribal-forestry/coop-forestry/ira-forest-landowner-support.

The Forest Service also recently launched a Community Navigator Program to help landowners, state, local and tribal governments, businesses, nonprofits and other organizations find more information about funding opportunities and technical assistance they may be able to apply for to support efforts to promote the health and resilience of America’s forests.

Navigator services are delivered through community partners, many of whom have specific expertise in identifying and meeting the needs of particular communities, industries, or land management units. For more information, visit: https://www.fs.usda.gov/working-with-us/navigators.

For more news and information about national forests in the Pacific Northwest, visit the news page at https://www.fs.usda.gov/news/r6/news-events or https://www.fs.usda.gov/r6.

The USDA Forest Service’s mission is to maintain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The agency manages the 193 million acres of the National Forest System, assists non-federal forest owners with management, and maintains the largest forest research organization in the world.

For more information about the USDA Forest Service, visit https://www.fs.usda.gov.