AUGUSTA — The Maine Forest Service is to provide up to $85,000 over the next two years for local governments, municipalities, educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, and private family woodland owners to obtain Invasive Plant Control Practice Plans for their woods.
Supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, financial incentives for the plans are available to public and private woodland owners with 10- to 1,000-wooded acres in Maine. Reimbursement of up to 50% of the cost of an IPCPP is based on the number of acres covered in the plan. An average woodlot with between 10 and 100 acres may receive up to $400 maximum incentive; larger lots will have larger maximum incentive amounts.
The plans will provide woodland owners with maps and treatment recommendations for invasive plants on their land.
The second round of applications for these plans closes Monday, July 12.
“We’re very excited for the opportunity to work with licensed foresters and other natural resource professionals to develop Invasive Plant Control plans for Maine’s woodland owners,” said Nancy Olmstead, invasive plant biologist with the Maine Natural Areas Program, according to a news release from the Maine Forest Service. When implemented, these plans will “help slow the advance of exotic invasive plants in Maine’s treasured woodlands.”
“After years of seeing these invasive plants becoming worse and worse, it’s great to finally have some resources to tackle the problem on the ground,” noted Andy Shultz, the Maine Forest Service’s Landowner Outreach Forester.
Landowners with approved IPCPPs will be eligible to apply for the next phase of the program, to receive free invasive plant treatment conducted by a contractor hired by the Maine Forest Service.
To apply for a practice plan, applicants must complete the application available. Applications are due by 5 p.m. on July 12.
To learn more, visit the Invasive Plant Management Program web page at maine.gov, or call Program Manager Jan Santerre at 207-287-4987.
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