This award includes forest stewardship, forest health protection, urban and community forestry, state fire and volunteer fire capacity and landscape scale restoration funding

Federal Project Grant Summary

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, Region 8 – Southern Region awarded $4.49 million to the Alabama Forestry Commission under the Cooperative Forestry Assistance program (CFDA 10.664) on September 5, 2025, with a completion date of September 4, 2030. This five-year project grant provides direct assistance to non-federal land managers, private forest landowners, municipalities, and producers across Alabama to deliver comprehensive forest management and wildfire mitigation services.

The funded initiative encompasses forest stewardship, forest health protection, urban and community forestry, state fire and volunteer fire capacity building, and landscape-scale restoration activities. Through this award, the Alabama Forestry Commission will implement on-the-ground services including hazardous fuels reduction, invasive species and forest pest management (such as southern pine beetle control), prescribed burning, technical assistance to private landowners, forest management planning, and community forestry programs. These services support forest health improvement, wildfire risk reduction, ecosystem restoration, and sustainable forest management across Alabama's non-federal forest and rural lands.

Direct assistance is provided to non-federal land managers, producers, private forest landowners, and municipalities to fight fires, reduce fire risk, fight damaging insects and diseases, produce timber, and steward their forests