FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Chambliss, Isakson Announce Funding to Help Restore Land Affected by Wildfires
USDA to Provide $4.4 Million for Florida and Georgia  

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) , Ranking Republican Member on the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service will provide $4.4 million in federal funding to help restore land and assist natural resources to recover from the effects of wildfires that ravaged southeast Georgia and Florida in April and May.  

The fires started after a tree fell on a power line in rural Ware County and have continued to spread through Georgia due to ongoing drought.  More than 472,000 acres of federal, state and private land have burned in a 21-county area in South Georgia.        

“This funding will greatly assist areas affected by the devastating wildfires recently,” said Sen. Chambliss.  “The wildfires have taken a tremendous toll on our state’s resources and now with this funding, we can start the process of restoring and rehabilitating what was lost.”

“This assistance is greatly needed, and I am very pleased that landowners in Georgia will be able to take advantage of this federal assistance as they recover from these devastating and widespread fires,” said Sen. Isakson. 

The Natural Resources Conservation Service will provide $500,000 to help current Wetlands Reserve Program contract holders restore their wetlands damaged by the fires.  Approximately 2,900 acres in Georgia are eligible.  They will provide 100 percent cost-share assistance to these contract holders.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service will also provide $2 million through a special Environmental Quality Incentives Program initiative to clean-up, restore and replant acres affected by the fires.  Under this initiative, the agency will provide 75 percent of restoration and replanting costs.  Producers will have to sign up for the program, and Natural Resources Conservation Service will rank the bids based on their potential to increase the buffer zone around the Okefenokee Swamp and restore long-leaf pines. 

In addition, the Natural Resources Conservation Service also will allot $1 million through a new 10-year Wetlands Reserve Program initiative to restore and enroll nearly 2,000 acres of wetlands affected by the fires.  The agency will cover 75 percent of the cost of restoration. 

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