Maine timber companies are in line to receive substantial incentives to manage forests and grow healthier, more valuable trees.
A $32 million award to the New England Forestry Foundation was recently finalized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The funding package, through the Advancing Markets for Producers, or AMP, initiative, replaces similar funding provided under the "climate smart commodities" program developed during President Joe Biden's administration.
While there are some adjustments to the program, it achieves the same purpose, according to the foundation Deputy Director Andi Colnes.
"The outcomes will really be the same," she said. "I think the thing that has changed is this administration's priorities and focus on forest health and productivity."
The grant will largely subsidize commercial and pre-commercial thinning, the practice of cutting out smaller, less productive trees to allow remaining trees to grow into more valuable timber and provide a more diverse and healthy forest ecosystem, Colnes said.
It will also provide funding to expand market opportunities, particularly for mass timber construction, she added.
The foundation received a similar grant in 2022 which also encouraged healthier forest growth to store more climate-warming carbon dioxide.
But the climate smart commodities program that provided that award was eliminated under President Donald Trump. In April, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture said the program was "largely built to advance the green new scam at the benefit of NGOs, not American farmers."
The program was instead converted to the AMP program with a new requirement that 65% of the funding go directly to farmers.
In a press release producers including Kyle Burdick, the vice president of landowner Baskahegan Co. in Washington County, celebrated the award.
"It is great for our sector to have additional resources available for investing in timber stand improvements, which are critical to future wood supply and value, but difficult for landowners to make when wood markets are challenging," Burdick said.
According to Colnes, the program is able to cover about 50,000 acres of New England forests, mostly commercial timberland in Maine.
The foundation said 23 commercial, conservation and public forest owners are already enrolled in the project.
