To enhance 3,500 acres of globally imperiled pine and OAK barrens across wisconsin's central sand plains ecological landscape to benefit at-risk wildlife and plant species, increase forest health, and…

Award Details: The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Region 9 - Eastern Region awarded The Nature Conservancy a Project Grant of $569,212 under the Cooperative Forestry Assistance program (CFDA 10.664) on September 11, 2025, with a completion date of September 10, 2030. The grant supports the enhancement of 3,500 acres of globally imperiled pine and oak barrens across Wisconsin's Central Sand Plains ecological landscape.

Products and Services: The primary deliverables include habitat restoration, invasive species control, and ecosystem management activities designed to benefit at-risk wildlife and plant species, increase forest health, and strengthen ecosystem resilience. The Nature Conservancy implements this landscape-scale restoration project through sub-awards to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (awarded December 18, 2025) for improvements to critical barrens communities on state-owned land through invasive species control, mechanical and chemical brush management, native flora seeding, and outreach and education activities, and to Jackson County (awarded December 5, 2025) for invasive species control efforts on Jackson County Forest Land. These coordinated restoration activities represent the type of collaborative, science-based forest management and conservation work that the Cooperative Forestry Assistance program supports on non-federal forest lands throughout the United States.

To enhance 3,500 acres of globally imperiled pine and OAK barrens across wisconsin's central sand plains ecological landscape to benefit at-risk wildlife and plant species, increase forest health, and strengthen ecosystem resilience.