Deadline: 16-Dec-2024
Submissions are now being accepted for the Landscape Scale Restoration Competitive Grant Program, which aims to foster collaborative, science-based restoration efforts for priority rural forest landscapes.
This program supports high impact projects that lead to measurable outcomes on the landscape, leverage public and private resources, and further priorities identified in science-based restoration strategies.
Recognizing the importance of forest land to Tribal communities, the Forest Service is seeking proposals from Federally Recognized Tribes and Alaska Native Corporations and Villages to restore priority forest landscapes on Tribal land. Eligible Tribal Forest land includes (1) Tribal trust land held both by Tribes and individuals and (2) Tribally-owned fee lands. Under this solicitation, Federally Recognized Tribes and Alaska Native Corporations and Villages are eligible to apply for assistance.
The LSR program supports collaborative, high impact projects that lead to measurable outcomes on the landscape, leverage public and private resources, and further priorities identified in a science-based restoration strategy (for example a Tribal Forest Plan, State Forest Action Plan, or other equivalent restoration strategy). Projects contribute to healthy, climate-resilient, rural forests and communities, supporting Agency objectives listed below.
Objectives
- Achieve one or more of the following objectives:
- Reduce the risk of uncharacteristic wildfire.
- Improve fish and wildlife habitats, including for threatened and endangered species.
- Maintain or improve water quality and watershed functions.
- Mitigate invasive species, insect infestation, and disease.
- Improve important forest ecosystems.
- Measure ecological and economic benefits, including air quality and soil quality and productivity.
Funding Information
- The program offers several tiers of support to accommodate a range of project scales and administrative capacity considerations.
- The minimum funding request per project for all applicants is $50,000 and the maximum is $300,000.
- Cross-boundary projects that include more than one Tribe with corresponding restoration activities on more than one Tribal ownership may be considered for up to $600,000 per project
Time Frame
- Grants or agreements should be completed within 3 years from when the grant is awarded.
Measurable Outcomes
- Each LSR project must directly accomplish at least one of the on-the-ground national quantitative measures listed below and may include additional specific measurable results that show how the Federal investment will lead to outcomes on the landscape. Accomplishments should be achieved within the timeframe of the grant. The measures/metrics should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.
- Economic benefit (forest products): Board feet of logs/sawlogs produced that contribute to the forest products industry.
- Economic benefit (forest products): Tons of pulpwood or biomass produced that contribute to the forest products industry.
- Hazardous Fuels Management: Acres treated to reduce or mitigate hazardous fuels including prescribed fire, thinning, and other actions that reduce hazardous fuels and mitigate fire risk.
- Invasive Plant/Weed Management: Infested acres treated for invasive plants including chemical, mechanical, and biological actions that improve forest health conditions. This does not include acres surveyed for invasive plants.
- Insect and Disease Management: Acres treated for insects and disease including through chemical, mechanical, and biological actions that improve forest health conditions.
- Landowner Assistance: Forest landowners reached through technical assistance and are known to have benefited in some significant and lasting way (e.g., developed or implemented a forest management activity or practice) from the LSR project through more than one interaction. This does not include a landowner who simply attended a technical or training session without any follow-up or were spoken to only once, such as over the phone, with no follow-up.
- Stewardship/forest management planning: Acres under a new forest management plan. A forest management plan could include a Tribal forest management plan, Forest Stewardship Plan, CAP 106 plan, Tree Farm plan, tax abatement plan, or equivalent state forest management plan, watershed, or a landscape plan. If a landscape plan, the plan must focus on discrete/specific geography such as a watershed and does not apply to a state-wide landscape level plan.
- Water Quality Enhancement: Acres of trees and seedlings planted to improve water quality including planting to create riparian buffers, floodplain restoration, and other actions that enhance water quality/quantity.
- Water Quality Enhancement: Number of trees, saplings, and/or seedlings planted to improve water quality including riparian buffers, floodplain restoration, and storm water management actions that are non-structural. In the accomplishments narrative section, specify size of trees planted and describe the plan for tree care to maximize survival.
- Water Quality Enhancement (riparian forests): Miles of riparian forest treated to improve water quality including riparian buffer establishment or maintenance and other actions that enhance water quality. This does not include any structural enhancements or construction (e.g., culverts).
- Wildlife Habitat Enhancement: Acres of forest treated to improve wildlife and fish habitat. Threatened and endangered species that will benefit from project activities should be included in the narrative accomplishments.
- Wildlife Habitat Enhancement: Miles of riparian forest treated to improve wildlife and fish habitat. Threatened and endangered species that will benefit from project activities should be included in the narrative accomplishments.
Examples of Eligible Project Activities
- Water quality and watershed health improvements, including efforts to improve forest health and resilience, reduce wildfire risk, and restore riparian forests.
- Protecting, maintaining, enhancing, and preserving habitat for wildlife and fish species, including threatened and endangered species.
- Wildfire fuels management including thinning, prescribed burning, multi-resource wildfire planning, and invasive species management.
- Thinning and reintroduction of cultural fire to reduce uncharacteristic wildfires, support wildlife habitat, and protect cultural resources.
- Forest management or restoration demonstration areas that both achieve on-the-ground accomplishments for a specific area and provide sites for education and technology transfer.
- Community tree planting and tree canopy management in rural communities with a population of 50,000 or less.
- Survey, prioritization, and treatment to control invasive plants in a high-priority landscape.
- Prevention and preparedness in advance of known invasive pests, with on-the-ground outcomes.
- Restoration of forests following damaging events (e.g., wildfire, hurricanes) to promote desired future conditions.
- Reforestation with trees and seedlings that are suitable for timber and food production, and other benefits associated with growing trees.
- Development and implementation of multi-resource management plans with private forest landowners.
- Harvesting, processing, and marketing of timber and other forest resources.
- Development and implementation of agroforestry practices that provide nutritional, environmental, educational, and other benefits. Agroforestry practices must target non industrial private forest land and support forest restoration.
- Development and implementation of prescribed burn plans across Tribal, state, and private lands.
- Forest restoration and forest management practices that improve the ability of trees or forests to take up (sequester) and store carbon, while minimizing the risk of future large-scale disturbances
Eligibility Criteria
- For the purposes of this Request for Proposals (RFP), Federally Recognized Tribes, Alaska Native Corporations and Villages operating within the United States, or its territories, are eligible to submit proposals. A Tribal organization as defined in 25 USC 5304 (l)2 may also apply at the request of a Federally Recognized Tribe (these require a letter of support from the relevant Tribe).
- Eligible Lands:
- LSR projects must be conducted on rural non-industrial private forest land, which includes Indian trust lands and Tribal lands held in fee, and/or rural State or local government forest land.
- Nonindustrial private forest land is land that:
- Is rural;
- Has existing tree cover or is suitable for growing trees; and
- Is owned by any private individual, group, association, corporation, Indian tribe, or other private legal entity.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.