Apply for Community and Watershed Forestry Grants

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Community and Watershed Forestry Program aims to improve local water quality and wildlife habitat, and increase community resiliency through sustainable forest practices.

The program provides financial assistance to identify locations in need of streamside (riparian) forest buffers, lawn-to-habitat conversion, and urban tree planting; and to design, implement, and establish those practices.

The practices can be installed on both public and private property.

This program supports projects that produce conventional buffers and multi-functional buffers.

Conventional riparian buffers are the trees, shrubs, and grasses planted along waterways that help protect water quality.

Buffers improve the health and diversity of local ecosystems by:

• Filtering pollutants
• Improving bank stability
• Reducing erosion and flooding
• Providing wildlife habitat and cooling water temperatures

Multi-functional buffers (PDF) provide benefits beyond conservation by offering an opportunity to harvest products in addition to the conventional buffer of riparian tree and shrub species.

In Pennsylvania, typical products included in multi-functional buffers are nuts, berries, woody florals, forbs, and potentially woody biomass.

The program also provides funding to promote and facilitate the conversion of presently maintained lawn to actively managed upland forest (300 feet or further away from a waterbody) or perennial native meadow.

Those interested in planting trees in communities (formerly TreeVitalize) funding should apply under this program.

Each grant requires a 20 percent match (cash or non-cash match is accepted). Eligible project costs for the Community and Watershed Forestry Program funding include:

• Targeted landowner outreach
• Project design
• Materials
• Labor (hired or grantee staff)
• Site preparation
• Post-planting establishment
• Tree Tender training
• Short-term stewardship/training