NFWF Announces Record $33.5 Million in Conservation Grants to Restore Longleaf Pine Habitat and Help At-Risk Wildlife

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) announced $33.5 million in conservation grants from the Longleaf Landscape Stewardship Fund (LLSF) to restore, enhance and protect longleaf pine forests in eight southern states. This year’s grant slate is the largest in the program’s history, building on a recent trend of increased funding for longleaf pine restoration. These grants will leverage $21.2 million in matching contributions to generate a total conservation impact of $54.7 million.  These funded projects each help to advance the restoration goals of America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative laid out in the Range-wide Conservation Plan (2025-2040).

“It takes people, communities and organizations working together to restore longleaf pine – one of the South’s most iconic ecosystems,” said Southern Regional Forester Ken Arney. “America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation provide a foundation for this important work. I know, working together, we can advance and accelerate longleaf pine restoration as we head into the next phase of this initiative.”

This year’s historic funding level builds on an enduring public-private funding partnership, and these investments will help partners engage more private landowners within this private land–dominated landscape, scale-up longleaf restoration and enhancement activities, and enable NFWF and partners to pursue additional innovative strategies to accelerate longleaf pine restoration.

Longleaf pine forests provide clean water, places to recreate, forest sector jobs and contribute to our national defense by buffering military installations from encroaching development.  The awarded projects will advance longleaf pine habitat restoration across eight states within its historic range. Together, the projects supported by these grants are expected to establish more than 70,000 acres of longleaf pine habitat through plantings and complete prescribed burnings on an additional 430,000 acres.

Thank you to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and their partners for the continued support of longleaf restoration efforts!  Click here to read the announcement from NFWF and here to read the full slate of 2024 grants.

Archive