Hardwood Reforestation Program

The Hardwood Reforestation Program is administered by the Arkansas Department of Agriculture and is supported through U.S. Forest Service award agreement 25-DG-11083105-531. The program was established to assist landowners confronting forest health challenges associated with intensively managed pine plantations in Southeast Arkansas. The Department identifies brown spot needle blight, caused by Lecanosticta acicola, as a primary forest health concern. The fungus causes brown discoloration of pine needles one to two times per year, and the resulting decline in pine stand health has caused some landowners to reconsider replanting pine following harvest. The program provides cost-share assistance for practices intended to transition affected or vulnerable pine forest acreage to hardwood species. Supported activities include site preparation and reforestation with hardwood species and removal of standing dead pine timber when removal is necessary to allow safe and effective reforestation practices. The source provides an illustrative cost-share example for a recent 40-acre clearcut consisting of heavy ripping site preparation at $131.19 per unit, bandspraying site preparation at $31.66 per unit, and planting bareroot seedlings at $205.70 per unit. The example results in total cost-share support of $14,742.00. Each landowner is limited to $100,000 in cost-share payments per state fiscal year. Payments are made as reimbursements after approved practices have been completed and inspected by a Forester with the Department. Eligible properties must be currently or recently forested with pine. Landowners in Ashley, Chicot, Desha, Drew, and Lincoln counties receive priority consideration, but the program expressly states that landowners outside the target area are also eligible to apply. Accordingly, the five named counties represent priority areas rather than an exclusive geographic eligibility boundary. Participants must also develop a long-term management plan with a Registered Forester within three months after approval, obtain Department approval of that management plan, and allow Department staff to monitor the reforestation effort for success. Applicants must submit a completed Hardwood Reforestation Program application to Alexsis.Mondragon@arkansas.gov. The Department states that assistance is available to facilitate completion of the application, with Alexsis Mondragon identified as the contact at 870-331-0888. An official application PDF is provided at https://media.ark.org/agri/SAHRP-Application-v5.pdf. No separate letter of intent, concept paper, pre-proposal, or other pre-application gating requirement is identified in the supplied program information. The supplied source contains conflicting statements about the 2026 application deadline. The prominent program announcement states that the 2026 deadline for applications is August 28. No application opening date is stated. The source also does not state that the program is annual, recurring, rolling, or continuously open, so no future cycle is projected from the information provided. Applications received during the application period are considered immediately for approval when the property is located in the target area. Applications outside the target area remain eligible but are ranked after the deadline using a scoring system that considers several factors; the supplied source does not enumerate those scoring factors. Successful participants subsequently complete the required management planning and approved reforestation practices, after which reimbursement is contingent on inspection by a Department Forester. No award notification date, fixed performance period, total program funding amount, or number of awards is stated in the supplied information.

Confirm that the property is currently or recently forested with pine. Properties in Ashley, Chicot, Desha, Drew, and Lincoln counties receive priority consideration and applications in the target area are considered immediately for approval; eligible applications outside the target area are ranked after the deadline.