North Carolina will receive a little more than $1 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to improve about 18,000 acres in the Uwharrie National Forest. (Photo by S. Shepard/Getty Images)
North Carolina will receive more than $1 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to improve forestland, the agency announced this week.
The money is just a portion of the $8 million the USDA is spending on five projects across the country aimed at decreasing wildfire risk, protecting water quality and strengthening forest health, according to the federal agency.
In North Carolina, $1,022,106 will go toward the Uwharries to Sandhills, Phase 2 project, covering Montgomery, Moore, Randolph, Richmond and Stanly counties. It will be used to restore and improve about 18,000 acres in the Uwharrie National Forest through prescribed fire and silvicultural treatments, according to USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
Wildfires are a growing concern in North Carolina, agriculture commissioner Steve Troxler said earlier this year while asking lawmakers for more funding to tackle the issue.
The risks from wildfires are "expected to get worse, not better" throughout the year, Troxler said in April, according to WRAL.
The $8 million investment across the U.S. is the latest portion of the Joint Chiefs' Landscape Restoration Partnership Program, which is a collaboration between NRCS and Forest Service, to build public-private boundaries, according to the agency. The funding for new projects follows $32 million given to 24 existing 3-year-old Joint Chiefs' projects.
"Wildfires have no boundaries, and neither should our prevention work," USDA Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz said in a press release, announcing the funding. "We need everyone at the table to deliver the kind of active management that will return our forests to health and productivity."
Other projects receiving funding are in Alabama, Montana and Oregon, and a joint project in Colorado and Wyoming.
"Providing technical and financial assistance to private forest landowners is key to supporting locally led conservation, especially in the wildland-urban interface," NRCS Chief Aubrey Bettencourt said in the release. This allows us to address multiple challenges in one project, such as reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire, protecting clean water, and improving wildlife habitat."