A workshop in Nevada City had been arranged on October 22nd 2009.  This is in addition to the workshops already planned in Eureka (19th October), Redding (20th October) and San Bernardino (26th October).

 Workshops will give information about the 2010 Forest Service Hazardous Fuels Woody Biomass Utilization Grant.

The workshops are free but we appreciate it if you can register in advance.  Online registration is available for each event (click on workshop and follow the links). 

Workshops providing information on the 2010 Forest Service Hazardous Fuels Woody Biomass Utilization Grant are planned as follows:

Eureka: October 19, 5.30-7.30pm, Forest Supervisor's Office, Six Rivers National Forest.

Redding: October 20, 4.00-6.00pm, Forest Supervisor's Office, Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

San Bernardino: October 26, 6.00-8.00pm, Forest Supervisor's Office, San Bernardino National Forest.

The workshops are free but we appreciate it if you can register in advance.  Registration information for the workshops is here: http://groups.ucanr.org/WoodyBiomass/Workshops

Based on demand there may be another workshop in Nevada City - watch this space for further details.

A workshop providing information on the Hazardous Fuels Woody Biomass Utilization Grants Program will be held in Sonora on October 8th 2009 from 4-6pm. Information about this event is available here.

This national program is intended to help improve forest restoration by using and creating markets for small-diameter material and low-valued trees removed from hazardous fuel reduction and forest health activities.

These funds are targeted to help communities, entrepreneurs, and others turn residues from hazardous fuel reduction and forest health projects into marketable forest products and/or energy products.

Individual grants can be from $50,000 to a maximum of $350,000.  Half of the funds will be targeted towards “high priority national forests” which includes the Stanislaus National Forest.

Topics will include:

• Background
• Application process
• Eligibility
• Obligations
• Timeline
• Examples of successful projects (including locally)
• Assistance available to help with applications
• Questions

Online registration for this event is available here

Other workshops are being planned in other regions of California and will be announced on this website. Check back soon for a workshop near you.

The details for the 2010 Hazardous Fuels Woody Biomass Grants Program have been announced on grants.gov.  

The program is run by the USDA Forst Service State and Private Forestry Technology Marketing Unit (TMU).  All materials are on the TMU website (righthand column of website).   

The national program is intended to help improve forest restoration by using and creating markets for small-diameter material and low-valued trees removed from hazardous fuel reduction and forest health activities. These funds are targeted to help communities, entrepreneurs, and others turn residues from hazardous fuel reduction and forest health projects into marketable forest products and/or energy products.

In the past successful grant applicants have typically purchased either harvesting or processing equipment to add value to woody biomass.  Check out the 2009 projects list and map to get an idea of successful projects. 

There are a number of key changes from previous years: 

• Funding amount: potentially up to $10m available – not guaranteed  [up from $4m in previous years]
• Individual projects: $50,000 (min)-$350,000 (max) [up from $250,000 max previously]
• Allocation of funds: 50% of funds will target high priority National Forests.  The other 50% will target low priority National Forests and other eligible forests [previously targeted National Forests only].
• Timeline:
  • Pre-application deadline November 20th 2009
  • Full application deadline April 2nd 2010

We will post further information here as necesssary.  Look out for some grant workshops soon.