Registration for $380 Million Hurricane Michael Timber Recovery Funding Program Now Available
Today, the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) announced that registration for the $380 million recovery funding program for Florida's timber industry impacted by Hurricane Michael is now available. This program was made available through an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and is administered by FDEM in conjunction with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and technical assistance will be provided through the Florida Forest Service. Registration for the block grant is available here.
To be eligible for the Timber Recovery Block Grant, a producer must be the owner of record or the lessee who has 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 Florida counties: Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Hamilton, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Okaloosa, Suwannee, Taylor, Wakulla, Walton and Washington.
Additionally, the Florida Irrigation Recovery Block Grant Program is now available to agricultural producers who suffered damage to their crop and irrigation system as a result of Hurricane Michael. To be eligible for this program, a producer must be the owner of record of center pivot irrigation infrastructure at the time of application and document that the crop growing under the center pivot as of October 10, 2018, sustained a minimum 15 percent crop loss due to Hurricane Michael.
The deadline to register for these programs is Friday, November 20.
FDEM will be conducting community outreach to ensure timber producers have the information they need to apply. Additionally, producers can email questions to timber@em.myflorida.com.
For more information about the Timber Recovery Block Grant, visit https://floridadisaster.org/timber. For more information about the Florida Irrigation Recovery Block Grant Program, visit https://floridadisaster.org/irrigation.
A previous announcement regarding this program is available here. An announcement regarding the USDA agreement for the program is available here.
Updated: Friday, August 21, 2020
