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The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) was signed by President Obama on February 17, 2009. It is an unprecedented effort to jumpstart our economy, create or save millions of jobs, and put a down payment on addressing long neglected challenges so our country can thrive in the 21st Century. The Recovery Act provides a wide range of public benefits including $250,000,000 to the United States Forest Service (USFS) nationally for State and private forestry activities. These activities include hazardous fuels reduction, forest health, and ecosystem improvement. Additionally, up to $50,000,000 of the total funding may be used to make wood-to-energy grants to promote increased utilization of biomass from Federal, State, and private lands. The Recovery Act also provides that funds used for activities on State and private lands shall not be subject to matching or cost share requirements.
The State and private forestry activities will be delivered through state forestry organizations across the nation. The USFS will use a grant process to distribute the funds to the states. State Forestry organizations were given a very short time period to develop and submit grant proposals to local USFS regional offices. USFS regional offices evaluated the grant proposals from each state within their region and forwarded them to the USFS Washington office for a final evaulation and selection. The states are currently waiting for the Washington office to make final selections and determine funding amounts.
The Florida Division of Forestry has applied for 18 grants (go to DOF Grant Applications List) that contain a total of approximately $42.3 million for State and private program funds.
Additional Information
Persons or companies wishing to do business with the State of Florida must register and be on the approved vendor list. For more information please see: http://dms.myflorida.com/mfmp
As positions become available with the Division of Forestry they will be advertised and filled from applications filed with the State of Florida, Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Visit our Employment page for information on applying.
The Florida Division of Forestry has a database that provides assistance to the public in locating various forest management related services throughout the State of Florida. If you would like to be added to the list, please see: http://fsvd.fl-dof.com/
The U.S. Forest Service will also receive funding for other projects on National Forests. To view information about these programs visit the U.S. Forest Service's Economic Recovery website
A complete copy of the Recovery Act can be found at the following link:
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (pdf) |
