USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has announced a second fiscal year 2022 sign-up for the Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration Partnership. The project is called “The Sustaining Gains in Longleaf Pine Restoration through Coordinated Cogongrass Control”.
The mission of the project is to manage and protect successful longleaf pine ecosystem restoration on 1.2 million acres south-central Alabama and northwest Florida, including the Conecuh National Forest. The project area represents the heart of the largest significant geographic area identified in America’s Longleaf Range-wide Conservation Plan. It is the core landscape targeted by the Gulf Coastal Plain Ecosystem Partnership (GCPEP). GCPEP is a partnership coordinated by The Longleaf Alliance. However, past and future investments in this landscape are threatened by cogongrass, one of the world’s top-ten worst weeds. Cogongrass is known for its high-density growth, high burning intensity, poor value as wildlife habitat, and difficulty to control.
This project seeks to complement existing investments in restoring fire regimes, rare species habitat, and watershed health by increasing capacity for cogongrass control, especially on private land. The project will support a landscape-focused, coordination-intensive partnership that ensures control treatments are prioritized and implemented across boundaries of public and private land, rights-of-way, and state lines.
Partners in this project include the: USDA Forest Service, Alabama Forestry Commission, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Florida Forest Service, Covington County Soil and Water Conservation District, Alabama Department of Transportation, Florida Department of Transportation, Alabama counties of Covington and Escambia, Florida counties of Okaloosa and Santa Rosa, Northwest Florida Water Management District, US Navy, and Auburn University.
Eligible practices include herbaceous weed treatment for cogongrass eradication, and conservation cover, critical area treatment, and Native Warm Season Grass planting to re-establish adequate vegetation.
The application sign-up deadline is April 29, 2022. To learn more about financial and technical assistance, contact your local NRCS office in Alabama or Florida.