Arkansas Forestry Commission - Media Information

Arkansas Fire & Ice Grants
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

The Arkansas Forestry Commission has been awarded an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) grant for wildfire hazard reduction on forests in north Arkansas damaged by the ice storm of January 2009. Funds will be used to contract for single engine air tankers; for grants to forest owners for wildfire mitigation practices; to purchase advertising to promote grant availability and wildfire prevention; and to purchase wildland firefighting equipment and personal protective equipment for volunteer fire departments and AFC.

To learn more about how stimulus recovery funds will be distributed in Arkansas, visit the Arkansas State Recovery Office web site at http://recovery.arkansas.gov, or call the Arkansas Recovery Hotline at 1-877-682-1515.

Arkansas Fire & Ice Forest Landowner Grant

Four hundred ninety seven landowners applied for $8,000,000 to reduce wildfire hazards in their forests. Only $1,300,000 is available. On Dec. 15, 2009, AFC conducted a random drawing of the applications at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View to determine ranking for consideration of funding. That list is available at the link below.

Application Drawing Order
Microsoft Excel Document or Adobe PDF

AFC employees have conducted 80 site visits to determine if the forests meet grant eligibility requirements. AFC has mailed notification letters to the first 50 eligible applicants and has set-aside money for forest owners to hire foresters to prepare a Forest Stewardship/Hazard Mitigation Plan. The plans will identify necessary work and will determine the costs. As plans are approved, AFC will set-aside funds and authorize the wildfire mitigation work. Then AFC will send notification letters to additional forest owners. Eligible forest owners will be funded in the order in which their applications were drawn.

Arkansas Fire & Ice Landowner Checklist

Arkansas Fire & Ice Fact Sheet

Frequently Asked Questions

Arkansas Fire & Ice Consulting Foresters Directory

Arkansas Fire & Ice Forestry Service Provider Directory

Eligible Forest Practices

Additional updates, will be posted on this page as well as the Arkansas Forestry Commission’s Facebook fan page and Twitter feed.

For more information about the Arkansas Fire & Ice Landowner Assistance Grant, call the Arkansas Forestry Commission at 1-800-324-2417 or visit your local AFC office. For information about how ARRA funds are being used in Arkansas, visit the Arkansas Office of the Recovery and Reinvestment Act web site at www.recovery.arkansas.gov

Questions? Comments? Please fill out the form below:

Forest Landowner Notification List
(Updated 3/9/2010)
AFC has mailed letters notifying landowners that they have met all requirements and funds have been obligated for the writing of a Forest Stewardship/Hazard Mitigation Plan. AFC will send notification letters to additional forest owners as funds become available. This list will be updated weekly.

Drawing Order	Forest Landowner Name	County	Letter date
1	Faulkner, Laymon	Washington	2/5/2010
2	Gordon, Clarence	Sharp	1/28/2010
3	Nail Family Trust-Julie Nail	Independence	1/28/2010
4	Spinks, Derrick	Stone	2/12/2010
5	Begley, Harriett	Searcy	2/12/2010
6	Taylor, John	Boone	2/5/2010
7	Rainbolt, Randal	Searcy	2/12/2010
8	Gibson, Lester	Marion	2/17/2010
9	Bruce Manning Farms	Lawrence	1/28/2010
10	McClain, Hugh	Baxter	2/17/2010
11	Benedict, Ron	Fulton	1/28/2010
12	Bennett, Gene	Greene	1/28/2010
13	Parks, LD	Washington	2/5/2010
14	Daniel, William	Searcy	2/12/2010
15	Winter, Patricia	Searcy	2/12/2010
16	Boling, Ronnie and Ernie	Newton	2/16/2010
17	Mitchell, Gregory	Randolph	1/28/2010
18	Dixon, Ronald/Powell, David	Benton	1/28/2010
20	Dotson, Jimmy	Newton	2/5/2010
21	Newman, Gale	Baxter	1/28/2010
22	Morgan, Joyce	Sharp	1/28/2010
23	Lazarow, Merlyn	Newton	2/12/2010
24	Roth, Danny	Boone	2/5/2010
25	Miller, Harold	Baxter	1/28/2010
26	Shrable, Troy	Fulton	2/5/2010
27	Crynes, Sue	Van Buren	2/5/2010
28	Economopoulos, Michael	Searcy	2/12/2010
30	Linkous, Marcus	Benton/Madison	1/28/2010
33	Caldwell, Wendel	Newton	1/28/2010
34	Eaton, Mark	Madison	2/5/2010
35	Brantley, David	Newton	1/28/2010
36	Knapp, William	Cleburne	2/5/2010
37	Campbell, Ricky	Newton	1/28/2010
38	Klenczar, David	Newton	1/28/2010
39	Reesor, Jerry	Independence	1/28/2010
40	Akins, Kenneth	Randolph	1/28/2010
41	Breedlove, Kendall	Newton	1/28/2010
42	Watson, Ted	Sharp	1/28/2010
43	Morgan, James	Sharp	1/28/2010
44	Scott, Bobby	Stone	2/12/2010
45	Newton, Judith	Fulton	1/28/2010
46	Eaton, Winfred	Madison	2/5/2010
47	Burgin, Joanna	Fulton	2/24/2010
48	Lillard, Barry	Independence	1/28/2010
49	Snowball Properties LLC	Searcy	2/12/2010
50	Smith, Donald	Carroll	1/28/2010
51	Staggs, Raymond	Independence	1/28/2010
52	Ashley Family Trust-Elaine McCutcheon	Searcy	2/12/2010
54	Head Cattle Company-David Head	Craighead	2/5/2010
55	Manning, James	Lawrence	1/28/2010
Total letters mailed: 50

Arkansas Fire & Ice Fire Department Equipment Grant

The ice storm devastated the northern third of the state, producing large amounts of uprooted and broken trees. This debris will hinder firefighting crews and cause more intense wildland fires. In an effort to assist fire departments responding to wildland fires in the designated counties, $340,000 will be used to purchase items to supply fire departments with a wildland firefighting kit. This kit will include:

2 backpack water pumps
2 backpack leaf blowers
2 chainsaws with chaps and helmets
5 council rakes
5 leaf broom rakes

Click here to dowload a PDF of the list of VFD Wildland Firefighting Kit applicants in ranking order.

.For additional information, please call Mark Cutrer, Investigator, at (501) 454-0126 or e-mail mark.cutrer@arkansas.gov.

Questions? Comments? Please fill out the form below:

The AFC is hosting a two-hour enhanced Wildland Firefighting/Chainsaw Safety course conducted by AFC personnel to address safety while fighting fire in high hazard fuels. This training will be made available to all departments in the affected counties, and is approved for 4 hours credit through the Arkansas Fire Academy. Training dates and locations are listed below:

Date	County	Location	Time
March 9	Franklin	Ozark Fire Department #1	6 p.m.
March 11	Sharp	Ash Flat Community Center	6 p.m.
March 16	Cross	Wynne Fire Station	6 p.m.
March 23	Newton	Carroll Electric, Jasper	6 p.m.
April 6	Craighead	Fire Training Academy, Jonesboro	6:30 p.m.
April 8	Johnson	Johnson County Courthouse, Clarksville	6 p.m.
April 15	Washington	Wheeler Volunteer Fire Department	7 p.m.

Due to limited space, only firefighters within the county listed for that date are invited to participate. If your department is interested but a class is not scheduled in your area, please contact Jim Brigance at (479) 442-8627 or e-mail jim.brigance@arkansas.gov.