For immediate release: June 16, 2015
For more info: Smithson Mills at 828-273-9119 or smithson@smithsonmills.com
WNC Communities has announced availability of $70,000 for a second year of competitive awards to help support efforts to restore hemlocks to long-term health in North Carolina. The awards program is a part of the Hemlock Restoration Initiative, a cooperative effort launched by North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler and the NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services through grant funding to WNC Communities.
The goal of the Hemlock Restoration Initiative is to work with and through current restoration initiatives to ensure that Eastern and Carolina hemlocks can resist the deadly hemlock woolly adelgid and survive to maturity on North Carolina’s public and private lands by 2025.
WNC Communities expects to distribute a total of three to five awards this year, each ranging from $10,000 to $25,000, to support various restoration initiatives. Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations, colleges and universities, and local government agencies. Individual landowners and businesses are not eligible to apply.
“Thanks to Commissioner Troxler and the NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, we now have an opportunity to encourage some of the best projects and speed up the solutions,” states Linda Lamp, Executive Director of WNC Communities.
Some of the possible areas of award activity include the search for natural resistance, chemical control, biological control, breeding for resistance, and public outreach and technical assistance. The award activity must occur within a 17-county area in Western North Carolina.
“We will consider any approaches that show real promise of helping to restore hemlocks to long-term health on North Carolina’s public and private lands,” says Lamp.
Proposals are due Friday, July 17, 2015. Funding decisions will be made by a special advisory committee and the board of WNC Communities to support activities beginning after September 1, 2014.
For the complete Request for Proposals and related application forms, please visit www.savehemlocksnc.org, or contact Smithson Mills, Project Coordinator, at 828-273-9119 or Smithson@smithsonmills.com.
Download the RFP document (pdf) as well as the budget form (xls doc) and the cover application form (xls doc).
For more information:
WNC Communities
594 Brevard Road • Asheville, NC 28806
Phone (828) 252-4783 • Fax (828) 251-9532
www.wnccommunities.org
www.facebook.com/SaveTheHemlocks
twitter.com/savethehemlocks
WNC Communities supports sustainable economic development opportunities that are unique to each community while together developing strategies that improve community life.