Texas A&M
Forest Service is now accepting grant applications for the State Fire
Assistance for Mitigation – Plains Prescribed Fire Grant through August 15. The
grant will provide $81,000 in total funding for prescribed burns.
Funding will be
provided to landowners and communities that have been, or may be threatened by
wildland fire to reduce hazardous fuels. Properties in the panhandle, west and
northwest Texas at high risk for loss during a Southern Plains Wildfire
Outbreak are eligible.
Grant
recipients will be reimbursed actual per acre costs associated with conducting
the prescribed burn up to $30 per acre with a limit of 500 acres per recipient.
“Historically,
fire has been a necessary tool to improve forage quality for grazing, enhance wildlife
habitat and preserve soil nutrients on the rangelands of Texas,” said Jake
Gosschalk, Texas A&M Forest Service Wildland Urban Interface Specialist.
Wildfires can
be destructive when they occur at the wrong time or near a community that is
unprepared. To plan ahead and mitigate these impacts, Texas A&M Forest
Service works with landowners and local and county governments through
Community Wildfire Protection Plans and the Texas Ranch Wildfire Program.
“Currently,
conditions across Texas are dry, but landowners are already planning for
prescribed fire treatments this upcoming fall during the cooler season,” said
Gosschalk. “These prescribed fires reduce hazardous fuel loads and mitigate the
threat of wildfire.”
Landowners
located within two miles of a Community Wildfire Protection Plan or a Texas
Ranch Wildfire Program will receive priority funding. Both programs enhance
awareness of wildfire risk and empower individual landowners and the overall
community to act to reduce the risk of wildfire in their areas. For more
information on these programs visit: https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/TRWP/ and https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/ProtectYourCommunity/.
To check
eligibility and complete the online application, visit https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/PrescribedFireGrantsApplication/.
Learn
more about prescribed fire by visiting TFS Prescribed Burns or the TDA
Prescribed Burning Board.
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Texas A&M
Forest Service Contacts:
Jake
Gosschalk, Wildland Urban Interface Specialist, jgosschalk@tfs.tamu.edu, (361) 571-6923
Andy
McCrady, Fuels Coordinator, wmccrady@tfs.tamu.edu, (936) 689-9393