1.) award purpose: IT is the mississippi forestry commissions goal and objective to work cooperatively in detection, control, monitoring, and education on the prevention of the spread of cogongrass…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has awarded a $550,000 Cooperative Agreement to the Mississippi Forestry Commission (MFC) to support the detection, control, monitoring, and education on the prevention of the spread of cogongrass throughout Mississippi. Under this 1-year agreement, the MFC will conduct an outreach campaign to inform the public about a cost-share program to control cogongrass, educate landowners on identifying infested areas, and work with landowners to hire contractors to treat cogongrass using appropriate herbicides. The MFC estimates treating approximately 275 acres across 2,500 spots, reaching over 200 landowners. This aligns with the objectives of the APHIS Plant and Animal Disease, Pest Control, and Animal Care Federal Grant Program (CFDA 10.025) to protect agricultural resources from economically damaging pests.

1.) award purpose: IT is the mississippi forestry commissions goal and objective to work cooperatively in detection, control, monitoring, and education on the prevention of the spread of cogongrass throughout mississippi.activities to be performed: outreach campaign to inform public about the cost-share program to control cogongrass and the application process for signing up for the program. Will also use the outreach campaign to educate and help landowners identify cogongrass infested areas through handouts, brochures and social media. MFC representative will identify and map cogongrass spots and work with landowners to hire private contractors to treat the spots with appropriate herbicide according to applicable federal requirements, to diminish the congongrass populations throughout the state of mississippi. Once the treatment is completed an MFC representative will confirm that a satisfactory treatment was completed. Mississippi forestry commission estimates they will service over 200 landowner applications. This will be a summary of all spots treated across the state. Deliverables and expected outcomes: MFC anticipates treatment of approximately 275 acres by the end of the project. MFC estimates this to be about 2,500 spots treated and RE-visited to see how well the treatment worked. This will be a summary of all spots regardless of size and not a summary of total land owned by landowners. The MFC plans to run social media ADS hoping to reach as many private landowners as possible. The goal is to reduce cogongrass across the state. MFC estimates servicing over 200 landowners' applications throughout the span of the project. 2.) intended beneficiary(IES): anyone who directly or indirectly benefits from mississippi's forest and natural resources.subrecipient activities, if known or specified at the time of award: N/a