U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) reminds Screven Effingham Bryan Chatham County producers that the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) and Emergency Forest Restoration Program (EFRP) signup ends on June 2, 2025. ECP and EFRP applications are being accepted due to Hurricane Helene that occurred September 26, 2024, through September 27, 2024. ECP provides cost-share reimbursement to producers to restore farmland to pre-disaster conditions and EFRP is a cost-share program that provides financial and technical assistance to restore nonindustrial private forestland (NIPF) damaged by a qualifying natural disaster. Emergency Conservation Program

Approved ECP practices include debris removal, land smoothing and shaping, fencing restoration, and conservation structure repair.

Approved ECP applicants can receive up to 75% of the cost of the approved restoration activity with a maximum cost share of $500,000 per natural disaster event.

FSA can provide advance cost-share payments, up to 25% of the cost, for all ECP practices before the restoration is carried out, an option that was previously only available for fence repair or replacement. The cost-share payment must be spent within 60 days.

Additionally, producers who lease federally owned or managed lands, including tribal trust land, as well as state land, can participate in ECP. 

Conservation concerns present on the land prior to the qualifying natural disaster event are not eligible for ECP assistance. 

Emergency Forest Restoration Program

Approved EFRP practices include debris removal and forest restoration.

Financial assistance for EFRP is not provided upfront. Cost-share is reimbursed at no more than 75% of the actual costs incurred or allowable cost after a restoration activity is complete, whichever is less. Approved EFRP applicants are expected to perform restoration and conservation practices based on the FSA-848A Cost-Share Agreement and a provided restoration plan. EFRP has a maximum cost share of $500,000 per natural disaster event.

To participate in EFRP, eligible applicants must:

• Complete restoration to meet the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and/or state forestry agency technical standards, and 
• Document and keep records of all costs incurred to complete the restoration activities, including costs associated with personal labor.  

To meet eligibility requirements, NIPF land must have existing tree cover or had tree cover immediately before the natural disaster occurred and be sustainable for growing trees. The land must also be owned or leased by a nonindustrial private individual, group, association, corporation or other private legal entity that has definitive decision-making authority over the land.

More Information

To learn more about ECP and EFRP, producers can contact the Screven County FSA Office at 912-564-7101 or visit farmers.gov/protection-recovery.