Sign-up for the $504.1 million Emergency Forestry Conservation Reserve Program (EFCRP) officially started on July 17th. This program is aimed at helping landowners and operators restore and enhance forestland damaged by the hurricanes that occurred in 2005. To be eligible for the EFCRP, in general, a producer must have experienced at least a 35% loss to merchantable timber on private non-industrial forestland. The loss must relate directly to one of the calendar year 2005 hurricanes, and must have occurred in one of 261 counties receiving presidential or secretarial primary disaster designations caused by 2005 hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, Ophelia, Rita or Wilma.

News notes are courtesy of Southern Forests Network News Notes
www.southernsustainableforests.org