Landscape Scale Restoration Grant Program 2025 Southern and IITF | USDA FS 2025 LSR SOUTHERN IITF

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA FS 2025 LSR SOUTHERN IITF

The Landscape Scale Restoration (LSR) Grant Program 2025 for the Southern region and IITF is a competitive USDA Forest Service grant opportunity meant to push forward collaborative, science-based forest restoration work at a meaningful scale. A key point up front is that awards are not guaranteed from year to year because the program depends on annual Congressional appropriations. In other words, even strong proposals are still operating in a funding environment where final dollars are contingent on what Congress ultimately funds.

Programmatically, LSR is built around restoring and managing priority forest landscapes in ways that produce clear, measurable improvements in public benefits coming from State and private forest lands. The opportunity is tied directly to the intent of the 2018 Farm Bill, emphasizing outcomes that can be tracked and demonstrated rather than purely planning or research in isolation. Projects are expected to align with priorities identified in a statewide forest assessment, a State Forest Action Plan, or an equivalent restoration strategy. While the focus is on priority landscapes, proposals can also address issues and needs identified within the relevant State Forest Action Plans, which is where applicants should look for the strongest alignment and justification.

A major structural requirement is that all applications, except those submitted by Tribes, must have a State Forester sponsor. For non-tribal applicants, this is not a last-minute signature step; the notice is clear that organizations should work with the State Forester from the beginning of proposal development. The purpose is to make sure projects are consistent with state priorities and to help filter toward the most competitive, highest-need work. Tribes have a different pathway, and the solicitation notes there is also a separate request for proposals specifically for federally recognized Tribes and Alaska Native Corporations, indicating that tribal applicants may want to review that parallel opportunity to determine the best fit.

Geographically, this particular LSR funding opportunity targets on-the-ground outcomes across the Southern States and the International Institute of Tropical Forestry (IITF) footprint. Eligible project locations include Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, plus Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The program also allows cross-regional projects, meaning a proposal can include work in these listed areas while also including work in states outside the region (for example, to the North and/or West) as long as the project includes the Southern/IITF geography covered by this announcement. Separate LSR opportunities exist for the West and for the Northeast/Midwest, which is useful context if a project is primarily based outside the Southern/IITF area.

In terms of who can apply, eligibility is broad and includes state, county, and local governments (including special districts), public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status, and Native American tribal governments and tribal organizations. Even with broad eligibility, most non-tribal applicants should expect the State Forester sponsorship requirement to shape how the application is organized, who leads, and how priorities are framed.

Administratively, this is a discretionary grant under the Forest Service, listed under CFDA 10.664. The opportunity number is USDA FS 2025 LSR SOUTHERN IITF. The application deadline listed is December 13, 2024. The award ceiling is $600,000, and the agency anticipates making about 15 awards, suggesting a competitive selection environment where strong alignment to state priorities, clear partnership structure, and credible, measurable on-the-ground outcomes will matter.

Overall, the LSR 2025 Southern and IITF opportunity is best understood as funding for practical, landscape-scale forest restoration that is coordinated across partners and anchored in state-identified strategies. Successful proposals will typically show (1) clear alignment with a State Forest Action Plan or equivalent strategy, (2) early and active involvement of the State Forester sponsor for non-tribal applicants, (3) collaboration across agencies, landowners, and organizations, and (4) measurable outcomes that demonstrate real public benefits derived from state and private forest lands in the eligible Southern/IITF geographies.

• The Forest Service in the environment, natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Landscape Scale Restoration Grant Program 2025 Southern and IITF" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.664.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-08-12.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-12-13. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $600,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 15 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for USDA FS 2025 LSR SOUTHERN IITF

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: