Florida forest landowners impacted by Hurricane Michael in Florida

Registration for the Florida Timber Recovery Block Grant Program is now open for landowners whose forestland in Florida sustained damage from Hurricane Michael.

In November 2019, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced that the USDA is providing $381 million in block grants to Florida as part of assistance to agricultural and timber producers in states impacted by natural disasters. In June, officials in Florida came to an agreement with the USDA to administer the funding and on Aug. 21, the online application process became available.

To be eligible for the Florida Timber Recovery Block Grant Program, a producer must be the owner of record or the lessee who has the rights to the timber crop at the time of application of a minimum of 10 contiguous acres of nonindustrial private forest land located in one of the following counties: Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Hamilton, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Okaloosa, Suwannee, Taylor, Wakulla, Walton and Washington. Additionally, the producer must have stands of timber that sustained a minimum of 25 percent loss due to the hurricane.

To register for the program, visit FloridaDisaster.org/timber and click on the link at the top of the page that says “Timber Recovery Block Grant Registration Form.”

The deadline to register is Friday, November 20, 2020.

The program is managed by the Florida Division of Emergency Management together with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the Florida Forest Service. For more information, contact [email protected].