DOVER, Del. — The Delaware Forest Service is seeking public comment on its new 2020 “Forest Action Plan,” comprised of an updated Delaware Forest Resource Assessment, Delaware Statewide Forest Strategy, and a new “Assessment of Need” for the U.S. Forest Legacy Program, which provides funding to conserve working forests.  The documents can be found at de.gov/forestactionplan and are available in both Flipbook versions and PDF format. The public is kindly asked to review and provide comments via email at delawareforests@gmail.com by Friday, September 4, 2020.

Delaware’s Forest Action Plan consists of two major documents: a comprehensive forest resource assessment and a statewide forest strategy. The plan is submitted to the U.S. Forest Service every ten years as part of an extensive process that involves staff, governmental partners at all levels, and important stakeholders including private landowners, industry groups, nonprofits, natural resource agencies, and the general public. In addition, the Delaware Forest Service is using the process to update its Forest Legacy “Assessment of Need,” which proposes a formal expansion of Delaware’s Forest Legacy Areas to include new areas in the state while building on partnerships with non-governmental organizations to provide resources and funding to conserve working forests.

2020 Delaware Forest Resource Assessment

A draft copy of the 2020 Delaware Forest Resource Assessment (in flip book format) is now available for public input and review. It marks a 10-year update of the 2010 Delaware Forest Resource Assessment. It follows the same seven criteria and eighteen indicators as outlined in the Montréal Process and adopted by the Northeast-Midwest State Foresters Alliance. All aspects, both biological and social, of forests and their sound management are addressed. These include biological diversity, productive capacity, forest health, soil and water resources, carbon cycles, social aspects, and legal and economic issues. Each criterion is supported by at least one corresponding indicator.

Link to 2020 Delaware Forest Resource Assessment draft copy (PDF version)

Link to 2020 Delaware Forest Resource Assessment draft copy (Flipbook version)

Delaware Statewide Forest Strategy

The 2020 Delaware Statewide Forest Strategy includes performance goals and action items that when enacted will help ensure the health of urban and rural forests for years to come. The assessment was completed under the  guidance of the Delaware Forest Stewardship Committee and with input from many other stakeholders. It identifies the most current priority issues, threats, and opportunities regarding Delaware’s forest resource. Additionally, priority urban and rural landscapes were identified in the assessment. A summary of the resource assessment is presented below but the entire document is available at this link.

The DFS worked closely with a variety of stakeholders and conservation-minded organizations and concluded that the four overriding state issues developed for the 2010 Delaware Forest Action Plan were still relevant today. The corresponding 19 comprehensive, long-term strategies were also retained but modified and updated where necessary and three new strategies were added. Each strategy contains multiple action items with performance goals to measure success. All previous 78 action items were also reviewed and updated. Participants in the review process made suggestions for additional performance goals related to the updated forest resource assessment. Twenty-seven new performance goals are included in this update. These were incorporated into the final strategy as well. Many of the action items will require years, if not decades, to achieve and also require partnering with one or more public and/or private organizations to accomplish. Nonetheless, we believe this updated strategy document is an excellent guide for the DFS to focus limited resources on the key issues facing Delaware’s forests.

Link to 2020 Delaware Statewide Forest Strategy draft copy (PDF version)
Link to 2020 Delaware Statewide Forest Strategy (draft copy) (Flipbook version)

Delaware Forest Legacy: New “Assessment of Need”

The Forest Legacy Program is funded through the U.S. Forest Service’s State and Private Forestry (S&PF) budget. It provides funds to states to protect working forestlands that are threatened by development or other land uses, either through outright (fee simple) purchase or conservation easements. A conservation easement allows the landowner to continue to own the forest; however, the easement prohibits non-forest uses such as development. Landowners who chose to sell an easement must also have a forest stewardship plan for their property that describes the activities needed to help achieve their objectives for the property; the Delaware Forest Service can write this plan with the landowner. The intent of FLP is to ensure forestlands continue to yield the forest products we use everyday, such as timber, wildlife habitat, and water quality protection. Landowner participation in FLP is completely voluntary.

• Draft Copy of Delaware Forest Legacy Assessment of Need – Flipbook Format
• Draft Copy of Delaware Forest Legacy Assessment of Need – PDF Format

As part of its 10-year update to its Delaware Forest Resource Assessment and Delaware Statewide Forest Strategy, Delaware is updating its Forest Legacy Program (FLP) “Assessment of Need” (AON) to include new areas in the First State to target to receive potential funding from the Forest Legacy Program. In addition to current Forest Legacy Areas: White Clay Creek, Blackbird/Blackiston, Redden/Ellendale, Cypress Swamp.  The new proposed areas for inclusion in the AON are: Milford Neck, Marshyhope, Central Sussex, Nanticoke, Southwest Sussex, and, the Redden/Ellendale Expansion. This update to the AON requires formal approval from the State Stewardship Committee.

States may only use Forest Legacy funds in areas designated in their Assessment of Need (AON) – the AON describes the state’s forests, the threats to the forests, and those areas within the state that contain the most important forests, which are called the Forest Legacy Areas. Once the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) approves the AON, the state is eligible to receive Legacy funds to purchase land and easements within the designated Forest Legacy areas.

Delaware’s AON was approved in December 1998, and there are four Legacy areas in Delaware – White Clay Creek, Blackbird/Blackiston, Redden/Ellendale, and Cypress Swamp (see maps below). These areas contain the highest concentrations of forests in Delaware, including significant acreage already protected through public and private ownership.

DOVER, Del. – The Delaware Forest Service’s urban and community program has awarded $58,409 in grants to 22 municipalities, HOA’s, and nonprofits to fund planting and management projects to improve tree canopy on public lands and open space in the First State. Over the past 10 years, the program has funded more than $1 million in community-based tree projects in Delaware.

Funded by the U.S. Forest Service, Delaware’s Urban and Community Grant Program is open to all municipalities, community associations, and certified 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations within the State of Delaware. Funds can only be utilized on public property owned by the municipality, HOA, or nonprofit organization. Grants can range from a minimum of $500 to a maximum of $5,000 in one of two project categories: tree planting or tree management. All applications require a 50-50 cost-share match in either cash or in-kind services within program guidelines. Applications were limited to one project in one project category and were judged on a competitive basis by a grant committee of the Delaware Urban and Community Forestry Council. Eligible projects must be performed on public lands within the community. Priority is given to first time applicants, Tree City USA’s, Tree Friendly Communities, and applicants that have passed an Urban Tree Canopy Goal Resolution (only applies to Municipalities).

EVALUATION CRITERIA

All grants were ranked according to the following criteria:

1. Overall project quality/community need
2. Project encourages sustainable urban forestry through management planning, proper tree care or sustaining/ maintaining urban tree canopy.
3. The project mitigates tree hazard(s) – applicable only for management grants
4. Increases tree canopy – applicable only for planting grants
5. Applicant has worked with DFS on a project to address DFS state forest strategies
6. Municipality has an implemented an Urban Tree Canopy Goal Resolution (Municipalities) or is a current Tree Friendly Community

The Delaware Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Program is committed to providing a range of technical and informational assistance to residents of communities in the First State.

For more information, contact:
Kesha Braunskill, Delaware Forest Service (DFS) Urban Forestry Administrator
Office: (302) 698-4578, Kesha.Braunskill@delaware.gov

Applications for the next round of grants will be available early in 2018.

List of 2017 Delaware Urban and Community Forestry Grants:

HAYFORK, Calif. (Aug. 6, 2015) — A team of 20 wildland firefighters under the direction of the Delaware Forest Service is working with 1,165 personnel currently battling the Fork Complex, a group of lightning-caused fires near Hayfork, California that totals 11,862 acres but is only 7 percent contained. Fire resources on the Fork Complex include 26 crews, 4 helicopters, 128 engines, 30 dozers, and 30 water tenders with road closures and evacuations in effect for the area. California officials declared a state of emergency late last week due to the widespread wildfires that have burned upwards of 190,000 acres.

For the past two days, Delaware’s crew has been working on the Peak Fire, a 706-acre blaze burning on Plummer Peak, south of the town near Highway 3. According to fire officials, Delaware’s job is to “Establish indirect control lines” and “Hold and patrol established lines.”

Kyle Hoyd, the Delaware Forest Service’s assistant forestry administrator, summarized the crew’s effort: “We did a burnout with two engine teams on the Peak Fire off of a dozer line and put hand line around several structures in the same area.” Earlier in the week, Hoyd reported that “everyone is doing well” but the “fire is in steep terrain with multiple hazards.”

The crew’s hard work and effort has been paying off. According to the U.S. Forest Service, “The Peak fire was active throughout the day with continued burning to the west; crews remained in place protecting structures (homes, residences, and out buildings). Significant progress was made with a dozer line completion on the northwest division of the fire, east of Highway 3.”

Crews might not get relief from the weather forecast. Officials say that “Warm and dry conditions will continue through the end of the week and as the smoke inversion begins to clear; this presents the possibility of more direct heat in and around the fire areas as well as more intense burning.”

The Delaware Forest Service also dispatched James Dowd from Blackbird State Forest to work as an equipment manager on the Mad River Complex, along with Michael Nelson of Pennsylvania, who is assigned to the Reynolds Fire in Montana.

GEORGETOWN, Del. – Helped by more than $800,000 from the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Legacy Program, four former Glatfelter Pulp Wood, Inc. forested parcels totaling 371 acres are now part of Redden State Forest. The completion of the $1.35 million purchase this week marked the final phase of the Green Horizons Forest Legacy Program project in Delaware initiated in 2004 with the purchase of an easement on the 908-acre Ponders Tract near Ellendale. The newly-acquired forestland will be conserved for public use and managed for a variety of objectives including recreation, wildlife habitat, water quality, and timber production.

Over a ten-year period, Delaware received $14,925,000 in competitive federal Forest Legacy funding (from seven separate grants) and protected 3,336 acres of working forestlands in the Redden/Ellendale area. The total project cost $25,553,403 with matching funds coming from the State’s Open Space Council ($5,435,500), private foundations ($4,692,903), and Sussex County ($500,000).

Contact: Michael A. Valenti, State Forestry Administrator, Office: 302-698-4550, Michael.Valenti@delaware.gov

UPDATE:

371 acres of new forestland at Redden State Forest is restricted from hunting for 2014-15 season.

To ensure public safety, the Delaware Forest Service announces that 371 acres of newly-acquired forestland at Redden State Forest is restricted from any and all forms of permitted hunting for the duration of the current 2014-2015 season. In effect, these areas will function as SAFETY ZONES until the surveyed boundaries are mapped and updated for inclusion on the current tract maps for Redden State Forest. This policy is in accordance with existing State Forest Regulations under the Delaware Code.  (Title 3, 402, Section 8.6):

8.6 The DFS reserves the right to close specific State Forest tracts to hunting during specific hunting seasons. It shall be unlawful for any person to hunt on lands administered by the DFS, except as permitted by the Forestry Administrator in writing and specified on current State Forest area maps distributed by the DFS.

This announcement on the hunting restrictions –  made in response to public inquiries about the status of the new properties – is based on the determination that forestry personnel will not be able to properly mark and delineate the correct boundaries of the new forestland and install proper signage during the course of an active hunting season.

Redden State Forest is Delaware’s largest state forest at roughly 12,800 acres. Delaware’s state forests are multiple-use natural resources areas that offer a no-cost opportunity for the general public to enjoy various forms of recreation including hiking, wildlife observation, camping, and in-season hunting.  According to the Delaware Hunting and Trapping Guide (pg. 11), Redden State Forest is the number one ranked area for deer harvest in Delaware. 

  Contact: Redden State Forest – 302.856.2893.

MAGNOLIA, Del. (May 14) – Governor Jack Markell celebrated Arbor Day by joining over 500 kindergarten students at McIlvaine Early Childhood Center for a ribbon-cutting to unveil the school’s new “Tree Walk & Talk Arboretum.” Gov. Markell also honored winners of the Delaware Forest Service’s annual Arbor School Poster Contest and joined in commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the adoption of the American holly as Delaware’s state tree in 1939.

A complete gallery of Arbor Day event photos is at the Delaware Forest Service’s Facebook Page. High-resolution images of Arbor Day Poster Winners are at: http://delawaretrees.com/2014arbordayceremony.html

Forestry officials also announced plans for the State of Delaware to purchase four parcels of Sussex County forestland in the next year at a cost of $1.35 million. The properties, which will become part of the 12,400-acre Redden State Forest in Georgetown, marks the final phase of the state’s ten-year “Green Horizons Project” that has permanently protected over 4,000 acres since 2004.

McIlvaine Early Childhood Center (MECC) in Magnolia is the state’s largest all-day kindergarten program with over 500 students. As a pilot site for Governor Markell’s World Language Initiative (WLI) Program, MECC features the state’s only Chinese language immersion program. About 100 kindergartners spend half their day learning literacy, math, science and social studies in Chinese and the other half in English speaking classes. WLI was successfully launched thanks to the efforts of Kevin Fitzgerald, Caesar Rodney School District superintendent, Sherry Kijowski, McIlvaine Early Childhood Center principal, and Brook Castillo, assistant principal.

MECC’s new “Tree Walk and Talk Arboretum” is the centerpiece of the school’s effort to incorporate “placed-based” environmental learning as part of Delaware’s “No Child Left Inside” initiative. Funded by a “GreenWorks!” grant from the American Forest Foundation’s Project Learning Tree Program, the project was completed with the help of the Delaware Forest Service, MECC staff and students, the Caesar Rodney High School FFA, and local businesses. The arboretum was completed at a planting event at the school on May 7. Photos of the planting event can be found at the Forest Service Facebook page.

The Delaware Forest Service’s Arbor Day School Poster Contest is an annual competition open to students in grades K to 5 in all public, private, charter, and home schools. Winners are chosen from each county in four categories: kindergarten, grades 1-2, grades 3-4, and grade 5. This year’s state winner was Isabella Garber, a Grade 5 student at Christ the Teacher School in Newark.

Forestry officials also noted that 2014 marks the 75^th anniversary of the adoption of American holly (Ilex opaca) as Delaware’s official state tree in 1939. At the time, Delaware was known throughout the United States as the “Land of Holly” because it was a leading exporter of holly holiday wreaths.

The “Green Horizons Project” is a multi-year effort to save working forests from future development. A successful partnership between the State of Delaware, the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Legacy Program, and nonprofit organizations including The Conservation Fund, the successful ten-year effort will culminate this year with the planned acquisition of 370 acres of Sussex County forestland at a total cost of $1.35 million. To date, Green Horizons has permanently protected over 4,000 acres of forests – which provide the public with cleaner water, opportunities for recreation and hunting, and places for wildlife habitat and observation.

At the ceremony, Delmarva Power received the Tree Line USA Award for meeting standards set by the National Arbor Day Foundation. The company also donated 30 trees for tree planting events at schools of winning poster contest entrants, as well as community Arbor Day events for Delaware’s Tree City USA communities.

2014 Arbor Day Poster Contest Winners

NEW CASTLE COUNTY
Kindergarten:  Isaiah Ngugi, Kathleen Wilbur Elementary, Bear

Grades 1 to 2: Jonathan Eppler, Jennie Smith Elementary, Newark

Grades 3 to 4: Maya Rigor, Christ the Teacher, Newark

Grade 5: Isabella Garber, Christ the Teacher, Newark

KENT COUNTY
Kindergarten: Caden John Marx, Maj. George Welch Elementary, Dover

Grades 1 to 2: Holly Helsdon, Nellie H. Stokes Elementary, Dover

Grades 3 to 4: Taryn Martin, W.B. Simpson Elementary, Camden

Grade 5: Juan Velasquez, Benjamin Banneker Elementary, Milford

SUSSEX COUNTY
Kindergarten: Tyler Hutt, Eagle’s Nest Christian School, Milton

Grades 1 to 2: Samuel Winston, Winston Learning Academy, Milford

Grades 3 to 4: Rain Vasey, Watergirl Farm Academy, Lincoln

Grade 5: Stephen Venable, Honor Academy, Milford