State and Private Forestry

Landowner Assistance

About 15 million acres of non-industrial private forest (NIPF) land owned by over 370,000 landowners are found in the Pacific Southwest Region, which includes California, Hawaii and the American-affiliated Pacific Islands. The Region works through State/Territorial Foresters to provide the Forest Stewardship Program, Forest Resource Management and Reforestation, Nurseries and Genetic Resources Programs, the Forest Legacy Program and related forest management assistance to eligible landowners.

Our responsibility

To oversee landowner assistance programs administered by the States to encourage and assist private forest landowners to actively manage their land and forest-related resources economic and environmental benefits for themselves and future generations.

Our goal

Programs are targeted at improving productivity and land management practices on non-industrial private forest land, where landowners may not have the knowledge or resources to pursue good stewardship practices without some assistance.

Our areas of expertise

• plan development
• reforestation and afforestation
• forest and agroforestry improvement
• windbreak establishment, maintenance and renovation
• soil and water protection and improvement
• riparian and wetland protection and improvement
• fisheries habitat enhancement
• wildlife habitat enhancement
• forestland recreation enhancement

Other programs are:

• Forestry Legacy Program which helps private forest landowners protect their land from conversion to non-forest uses.
• The Forest Resource Management and Reforestation, Nurseries and Genetic Resource Programs provide technical and financial assistance to states to support sustainable forest management of NIPF lands and the availability of higher quality planting stock to landowners.

Related links and Contacts

USDA Forest Service - State and Private Forestry
Last Modified: Thursday, 30 June 2005 at 18:50:48 EDT