14 April 2010, WASHINGTON (www.usda.gov) -- Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the award of grants to permanently protect private forestland in 33 states and U.S. territories through the Forest Legacy Program (FLP). The 2010 FLP awards, which total $72 million, will help the program reach a total of over 2 million permanently protected acres across the country.
Vilsack stressed that the threats facing American forests do not recognize property boundaries, and cooperation must be the choice across landscapes to protect working forests that supply clean and abundant water, shelter wildlife, and to help mitigate and adapt to climate change. The grants announced would help the Forest Legacy Program protect working forests in states around the country that are in danger of becoming fragmented or disappearing altogether.
FLP works directly with states to protect privately-owned forests from conversion to housing development or other uses that would threaten the conservation, management and restoration of the nation's forests. The program promotes voluntary land conservation through the principle of "willing buyer, willing seller." Program lands are protected through conservation easements, which allow landowners to retain ownership, or through property acquisition by states.
FLP uses a competitive process to strategically select ecologically and socially important projects facing the greatest threat of conversion to other land uses. Projects that protect air and water quality, provide recreational opportunities, protect wildlife habitat and provide forest products and resource-based jobs receive strong consideration.
FLP grants help fund costs associated with the program, such as appraisals and land surveys. The FLP requires at least 25 percent of project costs come from private, state or local sources; however, it consistently leverages more than a 50 percent non-federal match. FLP lands that remain in private ownership continue to contribute tax revenue while providing ecological and open space benefits to people throughout the nation.
