Federal Government Offers Urban Forestry Assistance to Storm-Ravaged Communities

Communities may soon benefit from emergency supplemental funding provided by Congress to mitigate the effects of Ivan and other similar natural disasters.

The almost $1.7 million appropriation for Alabama’s Urban and Community Forestry Financial Assistance Program comprises part of this funding. Auburn University has a 3-year contract with the U.S. Forest Service to serve as a pass-through entity for the program in Alabama. The program is administered through the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

In early may, communities can submit proposals to repair the damage Ivan caused to their urban forestry resources, according to Neil Letson, coordinator of the program.

“The appropriation is part of a larger package of money Congress awarded to Alabama and Florida as part of the response to the extraordinary impact of the hurricanes last year,” he says.

The provisions, Letson says, underscore the damage these hurricanes caused not only to forestland throughout the most heavily affected areas but to many of these communities’ urban forestry resources.

Communities will be able to submit projects that address specific storm-related mitigation needs such as urban tree assessments, tree inventories and tree remediation, Letson says. Assistance can also include informational and educational needs, tree mitigation and replacements of downed trees.

Repairing or removing these trees can be a major financial burden for many small communities that already were saddled with the initial burden of cleanup in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane. Letson believes that the program will go a long way toward repairing and, when the need arises, replacing trees that were structurally damaged during the storms.

The primary focus --- and the bulk of the funding --- for the program will be on the 12 counties that suffered moderate to severe damage to their urban forest resources. These counties include Baldwin, Butler, Clarke, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw, Escambia, Geneva, Mobile, Monroe and Wilcox.

For more information, contact Neil Letson at (334) 240-9630.

Posted by Jim Langcuster at March 15, 2005 04:22 PM