US
Forest
Service Announces Solicitation for Woody Biomass Utilization
Grants
On
Wednesday, September 6, the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service released a Solicitation
announcement for the Woody Biomass Utilization Grants. Funds
are targeted to help
improve forest restoration activities by using and creating
markets for small diameter material and low-valued trees
removed through forest restoration activities, such as
reducing hazardous fuels, handling insect and diseased
conditions, or treating forestlands impacted by catastrophic
weather events.
Goals of the grant program
are the following:
- Help
reduce forest management costs by increasing value of
biomass and other forest products generated from forest
restoration activities.
- Create
incentives and/or reduce business risk for increased use
of biomass from national forestlands (must include
National Forest System lands; however, may also include
other lands such as BLM, Tribal, State, local, and
private).
- Institute
projects that target and help remove economic and market
barriers to using small-diameter trees and woody
biomass.
A
Forest Service letter of support for the woody biomass grant
project on National Forest System lands is required. At
least $4 million may be available for grants under this
program for FY07; grants will not be less than $50,000 or
more than $250,000. This program is subject to Congressional
appropriations. Both House and Senate have funded the
program at only $5 million, which is $45 million below its
authorization in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Sec. 210(c)
in P.L. 109-58).
The
pre-application
deadline is
November 3, 2006 and the full
application deadline is
February 2, 2007.
Click
here for the full solicitation.
Click
here for more information on the Woody Biomass Grant program
at the USDA Forest Service.
Click
here for PDF of this EESI release.
If you have questions, please email or call
Jetta Wong
at jwong@eesi.org or
(202) 662-1885.
###
The
Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) is a
non-profit organization that works at the nexus of policy and
innovation to promote environmentally sustainable societies.
EESI was founded in 1984 by a bipartisan group of
Congressional Members dedicated to finding environmental and
energy solutions. EESI provides credible, timely
information and innovative policy ideas through coalition
building, media outreach, publications, briefings, workshops
and task forces on the issues of energy efficiency and
renewable energy, transportation, smart growth, agriculture
and global climate change. Carol Werner leads the EESI
team as executive director.
