Virginia underserved landowner outreach

The Virginia Department of Forestry (VDoF) received a $500,000 Project Grant from the USDA Forest Service under the Inflation Reduction Act Landscape Scale Restoration program (CFDA 10.731). The grant, awarded on April 30, 2024, supports VDoF's "VIRGINIA UNDERSERVED LANDOWNER OUTREACH" initiative, which aims to provide cost-sharing, technical assistance, outreach, and education to help underserved private forest landowners in Virginia participate in emerging environmental markets such as carbon offset and ecosystem services programs. Key objectives include increasing climate change adaptation, supporting forest health, and facilitating access to private environmental markets for landowners who have historically been marginalized. VDoF may collaborate with other state agencies, universities, non-profits, and local governments as sub-awardees to implement complementary forestry projects under this grant, such as invasive species management, biochar market development, riparian forest buffer implementation, and climate mitigation practices for underserved landowners. The grant has a performance period of 5 years, with a final completion date of April 29, 2029.