FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 7, 2024
Cost-share program available to help
prevent Southern Pine Beetle threats
COLLEGE STATION, Texas—Texas A&M
Forest Service is offering landowners financial and technical assistance
through the Southern Pine Beetle cost-share program. Applications for this
program are open now and will close on Jan. 31, 2025, at midnight.
Eligible landowners can receive
technical and financial assistance to reduce the
threat of future Southern Pine Beetle infestations and outbreaks.
Landowners may receive up to $50
per acre with a 100-acre maximum to assist with their first forest thinning. They
may also receive up to $5 per acre to offset the cost of using a professional
consulting forester.
“The Southern Pine Beetle
Prevention Program aims to reduce the risk that Southern Pine Beetle poses to
our Texas forests by assisting landowners with stand thinning,” said Allen
Smith, Texas A&M Forest Service Forest Health Coordinator. “This not only
reduces the potential for Southern Pine Beetle infestations, it also promotes
residual tree vigor and growth and overall stand health.”
Eligible applicants must own a
minimum of 10 contiguous acres of pine species; tree stands must be comprised
of at least 70% pine trees; tree stands must start with a minimum of 120 square-feet
per acre basal area; tree stands must be thinned to 80 square-feet per acre
basal area or less; and thinning of stands must be completed within 14 months.
Landowners may receive no more than
$5,000 in total for assistance for thinning and/or consulting.
Applications should be submitted
through local Texas A&M Forest Service offices.
Notification of application
approval status will be completed by March 1, 2025. Applications will be
approved based on ranking metrics.
More information about eligibility
and cost share rates can be found here: https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/SouthernPineBeetlePreventionCostShareProgram/
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Texas A&M Forest Service Contacts:
Allen Smith, Forest Health Coordinator, lasmith@tfs.tamu.edu, 903-297-5094
Communications Office, newsmedia@tfs.tamu.edu, 979-458-6606