This award consists of the forest stewardship, forest health protection, urban and community forestry, state fire capacity, volunteer fire capacity, and landscape scale restoration funding to direct…

On September 16, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Region 8 (Southern Region) awarded $10.996 million to Texas A&M Forest Service under the Cooperative Forestry Assistance program (CFDA 10.664) for a five-year project extending through September 15, 2030. The award provides comprehensive forest management and wildfire mitigation support to non-federal land managers, private forest landowners, municipalities, and producers across Texas. Funding supports forest stewardship activities, forest health protection against damaging insects and diseases, urban and community forestry initiatives, hazardous fuels reduction, volunteer and state fire assistance capacity building, and landscape-scale restoration efforts designed to reduce fire risk and promote sustainable forest management on nonfederal lands.

Modification 001 expanded project scope to include the "Keeping Forests" collaborative initiative between Texas and the Southern Group of State Foresters, which establishes social network analysis infrastructure, launches open innovation challenges, and assesses ecological and economic benefits of forest resources on water quality and quantity. The modification also allocated funding for a state fire assistance logistical support position dedicated to fire suppression operations. Texas A&M Forest Service subawarded funding to the Southern Group of State Foresters (effective October 9, 2025) and Partners for Education Agriculture & Sustainability (effective August 1, 2025) to support forestry advancement across the southeastern United States and develop workforce training programs for teachers and community members focused on tree care and environmental stewardship.

This award consists of the forest stewardship, forest health protection, urban and community forestry, state fire capacity, volunteer fire capacity, and landscape scale restoration funding to direct assistance and provide 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.