Federal Coordinating Committee (FCC)
In June 2010, the Departments of Agriculture, Defense and Interior formalized their commitment to the America's Longleaf Restoration Initiative and the goal of restoring 8 million acres in a Memorandum of Understanding. This landmark agreement also established the FCC, a committee to coordinate efforts among federal agencies to restore the longleaf pine ecosystem across nine Southern States. The Federal agencies are working with over 30 State agencies and NGO's who have signed a Declaration of Partnerships that commits each organization to being actively engaged in the restoration effort.
The principle agency contacts for the FCC are:
- Department of Agriculture: Liz Agpaoa, USDA Forest Service, Regional Forester
- Department of Defense: John Conger, Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, Installations and Environment
- Department of Interior: Cynthia K. Dohner, USFWS Regional Director
The FCC activities are supported by the following staff from the participating agencies:
- DoD- Tad McCall, Office of the Secretary of Defense
- USDA- Natural Resource Conservation Service - JR Flores, Acting South Eastern Regional Conservationist, Thomas Ward- Forester, East NTSC, Tim Albritton- AL State Forester
- USDA- Forest Service- Ken Arney, Deputy Regional Forester, John Dondero, Director of Cooperative Forestry, and Glen Gaines, Regional Longleaf Restoration Coordinator
- USDA- Farm Service Agency- David Hoge, Rural Forestry Program Manager
- DOI- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency -Mike Oetker, Deputy Regional Director, Aaron Valenta, Division Chief for Partnerships, and Clay Ware, Longleaf Pine Recovery Coordinator, all of the SE Region (R4)