The Southern Pine Beetle Prevention Program (SPBPP) is a cost-share program designed to help landowners thin overstocked pine stands to mitigate the risk of southern pine beetle outbreaks. The goal is to provide quality forest management guidelines to promote a profitable and healthy pine stand for your future. This funding is provided by the U.S. Forest Service award agreement 25-DG-11083105-004.
The deadline for 2026 applications is August 28th. Each landowner is eligible for a maximum cost share of $10,000. Please submit this application to [email protected]:
Cost-share payments are available for the following practices:
- First commercial thinning for pulpwood: $50 per acre
- First commercial thinning for in-woods chips: $75 per acre
- Non-commercial thinning: 75% of invoiced costs not to exceed $125 per acre
- This can include mechanical, hand-felling, or chemical injection practices.
- Prescribed burning: 75% of invoiced costs not to exceed $37.50 per acre
Pine stands must meet a set of criteria to be deemed eligible:
- Non-industrial private landowners, as well as groups, small corporations, and part-time forest product manufacturers
- At least 10 contiguous acres of pine
- An estimated stand-wide basal area of greater than 120 ft2 per acre of pine
The SPBPP also grants a logger incentive payment of $3,000 for those properties that are 40 acres or less of pine. This incentive is to help loggers that are willing to contract smaller jobs.
Program Contacts
Robert Floyd, Conservation Programs Forester
Phone: (870) 761-4322
Email: [email protected]
David Blythe, Forest Health Program Manager
Phone: (501) 902-5791
Email: [email protected]