EWS
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Office of Communications News Room 460-A
Washington, DC 20250-1300
Internet: News@usda.gov Phone: 202-720-9035
World Wide Web Home Page: http://www.usda.gov
Release No. 0462.04
Julie Quick (202) 720-4623
Ed Loyd (202) 720-4623
VENEMAN ANNOUNCES THE AVAILABILITY OF NEARLY $500 MILLION
IN DISASTER ASSISTANCE TO RESTORE FARMLAND, FORESTS
$5 Million in Grants Available to Aid Farm Workers
GREENSBORO, N.C., Oct. 25, 2004�Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman
today announced the availability of nearly $500 million in disaster
assistance to restore farmland and forests. The funds are part of
the $13 billion hurricane relief package signed by President Bush on
Oct. 13, 2004.
�President Bush has directed federal agencies to quickly administer
aid to those who have suffered losses due to severe weather
conditions,� Veneman said during remarks to the 10th Annual Women in
Agriculture conference being held here. �Today�s announcement marks the
first program rollout under disaster legislation that provides more than
$3 billion in relief to farmers, ranchers, farm workers, foresters and
agriculture related businesses.�
The funds announced today include $353 million in conservation restoration
funding to farmers, ranchers and communities nationwide, $113 million to
eight southeastern states and Puerto Rico to restore forests damaged by
this season�s four hurricanes, and $5 million in assistance to help repair
farm worker housing and provide assistance to farm workers in the affected
areas.
This assistance is in addition to the announcement in September of more
than $500 million in special disaster relief for producers of citrus,
fruits and vegetables, and nursery crops. Sign up for the citrus program
began Oct. 5 and sign up for the nursery and fruits and vegetable
assistance began Oct 20. Producers should begin receiving the assistance
after the regulations are published in the Federal Register, which is
expected next week.
Emergency Conservation Program--$103 Million
The Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) helps farmers and ranchers
rehabilitate farmland damaged by severe weather. The program provides
financial and technical assistance to help producers remove debris from
farmland, restore fences and conservation structures, provide water for
livestock in drought situations and grade and shape farmland damaged by a
natural disaster.
The program is administered by USDA�s Farm Service Agency (FSA) state and
county committees. Locally-elected county committees are authorized to
implement ECP for all disasters except drought, which is authorized at the
national office of FSA. More information can be found at:
http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov and
Emergency Watershed Program--$250 Million
The Emergency Watershed Program (EWP) provides funding for
locally-sponsored watershed protection projects resulting from the recent
hurricanes and other natural disasters such as tornadoes, fires, drought
and floods. Through EWP, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
provides technical and financial assistance to protect life and property
threatened by excessive erosion and flooding caused by the sudden
impairment of a watershed from a natural disaster. NRCS works in partnership
with local, state and federal agencies to ensure public safety and to address
restoration efforts on private lands.
These rehabilitation projects provide sound erosion control measures that
are economically and environmentally defensible. EWP funds are used to
remove debris, restore eroded streambanks, re-seed burned areas, and take
related steps to mitigate threats to people and properly from impaired
watersheds. More information can be found at:
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/EWP.
Farm Worker Grants--$5 million
USDA Rural Development will publish a notice in the Federal Register soon
outlining specific guidelines for submitting applications for the $5 million
in grant funds. For areas affected by a named tropical storm or hurricane
during 2003 and 2004, $5 million in competitive grant funds will be available
to local and state governments and nonprofit organizations. Two million
dollars will be available for repair or rehabilitation of off-farm labor
housing and the remaining $3 million will be used for general assistance for
low-income migrant and seasonal farm workers and their families. Additional
information on the special funding assistance is available at:
www.rurdev.usda.gov.
Forest Rehabilitation--$113 Million
Forests this year in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Puerto Rico all sustained damage from
either hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan or Jeanne. The funding will be used
by the Forest Service and States for on-the-ground work to restore thousands
of acres of trees, hundreds of miles of trails and roads, dozens of recreation
and administrative sites, bridges and other infrastructure as well as endangered
species habitat. The funds will also be used to reduce the risk of potential
insect, disease and invasive weed infestations. In addition, because the
southeast now faces an increased risk of wildland fire due to downed trees and
other hazardous fuels, the money will be used for wildland fire management.
North Carolina will receive of total of more than $47 million for restoring
damaged roads, trails and facilities in the National Forest System and for
stabilizing soils in areas affected by landslides and debris flows as well as
stream channels that have experienced excessive amounts of erosion and/or
deposition.
Florida will receive a total of more than $40 million for its national, state
and private forest resources. The money will be used for state and volunteer
fire resources, debris removal and repair to roads, trails, particularly the
Florida National Scenic Trail, and recreational facilities in Florida�s national
forests.
Alabama will receive more than $19 million for recovery of forest resources,
including money to fund additional state and volunteer fire resources. The
remaining more than $5 million will go to Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Virginia and Puerto Rico for work on national forests.
Because the Southeast now faces an increased risk of wildland fire due to
increased amount of downed trees and other hazardous fuels, the money will also
go to support wildland fire management efforts and to help states clean up debris
that could otherwise fuel future wildland fires.
Recovery work is expected to take up to 18 months.
Veneman praised the unprecedented support given by the USDA Forest Service to the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and states in the federal hurricane
response effort in addition to these disaster funds.
�The USDA Forest Service are experts in helping manage disasters. They committed
more than 1,200 personnel from its wildland fire community to manage highly complex
receiving and distribution centers, base camps, logistics staging areas in
hurricane-stricken states,� said Veneman. �This effort represents the broadest
application of the Incident Command System to a non-fire natural disaster.�
The Forest Service uses the incident management structure to manage a human-caused
or natural occurrence that requires emergency service action to prevent or reduce
the loss of life or damage to property or natural resources. Costs per date for
the wildland fire community hurricane response effort are estimated at $25 million.
More information can be found at www.fs.fed.us.
A list outlining state allocations follows.
Emergency Conservation Program (ECP)
* State -- Funding
* Alabama -- $2,756,000
* Arizona -- 401,100
* Arkansas -- 102,000
* California -- 79,000
* Colorado -- 670,600
* Connecticut -- 23,800
* Florida -- 61,342,000
* Georgia -- 4,885,200
* Hawaii -- 175,100
* Idaho -- 363,200
* Illinois -- 86,800
* Indiana -- 222,600
* Iowa -- 2,469,500
* Kansas -- 43,500
* Kentucky -- 165,600
* Maine -- 59,000
* Maryland -- 34,000
* Massachusetts -- 10,000
* Michigan -- 28,600
* Minnesota -- 10,500
* Mississippi -- 140,500
* Missouri -- 955,400
* Montana -- 2,028,400
* Nebraska -- 1,506,100
* Nevada -- 1,293,800
* New Mexico -- 290,200
* New York -- 185,500
* North Carolina -- 6,302,600
* North Dakota -- 22,500
* Ohio -- 315,000
* Oklahoma -- 431,100
* Oregon -- 165,100
* Pennsylvania -- 1,398,200
* South Carolina -- 1,776,200
* South Dakota -- 6,065,800
* Tennessee -- 80,000
* Texas -- 657,900
* Utah -- 2,345,100
* Vermont -- 78,800
* Virginia -- 761,900
* Washington -- 305,300
* West Virginia -- 1,128,300
* Wyoming -- 847,000
* TOTAL -- $103,008,800
Emergency Watershed Program (EWP)
* State -- Funding
* Alabama -- $3,586,040
* Arizona -- 46,000
* Arkansas -- 297,000
* Colorado -- 250,000
* Delaware -- 660,172
* Florida -- 120,301,000
* Georgia -- 3,350,600
* Illinois -- 114,000
* Indiana -- 2,022,700
* Kansas -- 410,800
* Massachusetts -- 555,000
* Maryland -- 1,581,600
* Maine -- 408,000
* Michigan -- 600,000
* Minnesota -- 3,426,200
* Missouri -- 294,500
* Mississippi -- 6,676,300
* North Carolina -- 65,683,246
* New York -- 512,000
* Ohio -- 48,000
* Oklahoma -- 4,371,222
* Oregon -- 150,000
* Pennsylvania -- 2,808,500
* Pacific Basin -- 84,000
* Puerto Rico -- 5,691,820
* South Carolina -- 2,637,700
* Tennessee -- 11,716,100
* Texas -- 2,710,700
* Utah -- 3,602,600
* Virginia -- 2,110,800
* Vermont -- 126,000
* Wisconsin -- 12,900
* West Virginia -- 2,213,300
* Reserve* -- 941,200
* TOTAL -- $250,000,000
Forest Rehabilitation
* State -- Funding
* Alabama -- $19,537,000
* Florida -- 40,637,000
* Georgia -- 3,174,000
* Mississippi -- 36,000
* North Carolina -- 47,210,000
* Puerto Rico -- 436,000
* South Carolina -- 550,000
* Tennessee -- 1,391,000
* Virginia -- 125,000
* TOTAL -- $113,096,000
*Reserve: These funds are for contract modification and potential
overruns
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