The Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration partnership is a collaborative effort between USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the US Forest Service that aims to work with private, state, and Tribal landowners to conserve forest and agricultural land alongside federally managed lands while safeguarding communities by reducing the impact of wildfire threats and protecting water quality and supply.
Indiana received funding for the Ready-Set-Fire in White Oak Woodlands proposal in June of 2024 with the expectation of three years of funding for NRCS and USFS totaling $7.9 million.
The Ready-Set-Fire in White Oak Woodlands project will fund prescribed fire along with numerous forest management projects across 16 counties in southern Indiana in an effort to improve habitat for at risk species and reduce wildfire risk. The combination of forest management and prescribed fire will restore and reinvigorate the declining white oak woodlands and associated fire-dependent plant communities, prepare sites to deal with future increased wildfire risk, and aid in forest resiliency to the impacts of a changing climate.
NRCS and the US Forest Service are partnering with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape (SISL), the IDNR Division of Forestry, and the Central Hardwood Joint Ventures – Let the Sun Shine In (LSSI) program in Indiana to increase the amount of forest stand improvement, non-native invasive species control, and appropriate prescribed fire that is implemented in Brown, Crawford, Dubois, Floyd, Greene, Harrison, Jackson, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Morgan, Orange, Owen, Perry, Putnam, and Washington County in Indiana.
The Hoosier National Forest (HNF) will be partnering with The Nature Conservancy to develop a prescribed fire strike team that will help increase the capacity to do appropriate prescribed burning on the Hoosier National Forest, TNC land, and other partner properties. The project includes funding for prescribed fire research in cave and karst areas, invasive species control, and prepping areas for prescribed fire.
Private landowners from these counties that are interested in forest conservation and management on their land should reach out to their local USDA Service Center (Service Center Locator | Natural Resources Conservation Service (usda.gov) ) to find out more information and submit applications for funding. Ready-Set-Fire in White Oak Woodlands funding flows through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) but is specifically targeted to woodland owners in these counties.
Ready-Set-Fire in White Oak Woodlands is an opportunity to expand woodland conservation and restoration for fire dependent plant communities, benefit local water supplies, improve habitat for at risk forest dependent songbirds, and improve the continuity of habitat between public and private land.
