North Carolina Department of Agriculture Announces Grant Program To Help Landowners With Timber Loss From Helene

This week, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services announced that the application window will open to assist landowners with timber losses due to Helene. The application period will open April 20th and the deadline is June12th.  The Timber Loss Relief Program (TLRP) will be administered by the N.C. Forest Service and is designed to partially compensate private landowners with at least 10 contiguous acres of moderate to catastrophic timber loss. The funding is part of the $221 million USDA block grants North Carolina received, this is the last of the four categories to be administered.

The other three agricultural categories of the block grant, focusing on farm infrastructure, future economic loss for perennial crops, poultry and aquaculture operations and market loss for commodities and select value-added products, were announced March 26 and remain open for applications with a May 15 deadline.

“A significant share of the more than 822,000 acres of damaged timber left behind after Hurricane Helene belongs to private landowners, the majority stakeholder of forest resources in this state,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. “While we know TLRP funding will not make these landowners financially whole, we are hopeful it will help with recovery from what was an unprecedented storm.”

The TLRP category of the block grant covers eligible timber owners in the 39 federally declared disaster counties due to Hurricane Helene. This disaster assistance will only cover losses associated with Hurricane Helene that were not covered under any other USDA programs.

Interested woodland owners can learn more about the program on the N.C. Forest Service TLRP webpage (https://www.ncagr.gov/divisions/nc-forest-service/managing-your-forest/tlrp). 

To begin the application process, landowners should contact their local N.C. Forest Service county ranger’s office. If staff are unavailable in that office, the N.C. Forest Service district offices overseeing county offices can be contacted. Contact information is available online (https://www.ncagr.gov/divisions/nc-forest-service/contacts).