Ecosystem Services in Working Lands: US Northeast

4.3.1.2 Assistance for reforestation programs

Large-scale tree planting and reforestation

• The USDA CRP Emergency Forest Restoration Program (EFRP) helps owners of non-industrial private forests in the U.S. Northeast and nationally restore forest health damaged by natural disasters.

• In Delaware, the Seed Tree Law program was passed due to the long-term decrease in pine and yellow-poplar forests. Run by the Delaware Forest Service, this program requires landowners to reforest all harvested sites of 10 acres or more that contain at least 25% pine and/or yellow-poplar, unless the site will be developed or cleared for agriculture. For this program, the Delaware Forest Service not only enforces the law but also provides landowners technical assistance to meet these requirements by supervising reforestation activities. • Other programs, such as the Pennsylvania Riparian Forest Buffer project, do not restore forest specifically but include reforestation efforts as a broader part of habitat creation and maintenance, as is the case with the restoration of riparian buffers.

Citizens and/or volunteer-led tree planting

• The Maryland Tree-mendous program helps residents in the state gain access to affordable trees to plant on their public lands. With permission from landowners, volunteers can plant trees at schools, in state and community parks, in local open space, along streets, and more. • The M aryland Department of Natural Resources’ Forest Service has a Lawn to Woodland program that helps Maryland residents who own 1-4 acres of land convert unused lawn to forest cover at no cost. • In West Virginia, Project CommuniTree (CTree) provides technical assistance, trees, and planting supplies to volunteers for planting trees on public land. CTree helps groups identify a proper planting location, develop a planting plan, and organize volunteers for planting day and follow-up maintenance. CTreealso provides CTree Kits that can be used to plant trees at schools, in parks, along road right-of-ways, near churches, and on other public lands.

4.3.1.3 Producing material goods

Beyond these programs aimed at habitat creation and maintenance, there are also a number of programs in this category that target the development of material goods in working forests and woodlands. These are often geared towards improving the delivery of wood products for energy, as in the U.S. Forest Service’s Community Wood Grant program, which provides money to install thermally led community wood energy systems or to build innovative wood product manufacturing facilities. Other programs provide various in-kind benefits to owners of working forests, such as the Delaware Wood Directory, which is a list of primary (sawmills, loggers, etc.) and secondary (furniture makers, pallet manufacturers, etc.) wood processors that is distributed to landowners and other interested parties to improve the production of wood and lumber products.

4.3.2 Programs for Supporting Institutions

4.3.2.1 Improving forest health The working forests and woodlands category also contained a number of programs that provide funding and incentives for supporting organizations in order to help manage various aspects of forest and forest health (Figure 10). These include programs aimed at improving different aspects of forest health as well as program delivery at the municipal level. Programs like the USFS Biological Control of Invasive Forest Pests (BCIFP) and Forest Service Pesticide Impact Assessment Program (FS-PIAP) address forest pests and

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