The Southern Pine Beetle Assistance and Prevention Program is offered to eligible non-industrial private forest landowners by the Florida Forest Service through temporary grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service.
Periodic southern pine beetle outbreaks in Florida have resulted in millions of cubic feet of pine timber killed on thousands of acres. The goal of this program is to minimize southern pine beetle damage in Florida by helping forest landowners conduct management practices that can make their pine stands less susceptible to this destructive insect pest.
Forest management practices such as thinning, prescribed burning, other competition control, and use of less-susceptible pine species can improve the health of pine stands and decrease their likelihood of developing southern pine beetle infestations.
Program Details
The program offers partial cost reimbursement or incentive payments for:
- First pulpwood thinning
- Prescribed burning
- Planting longleaf and/or slash pine
- Mechanical underbrush treatments
All payments are made at specified per-acre or per-seedling rates. See the
Technical Guidelines Booklet
[
1.6 MB
]
for available practices, practice requirements and payment rates.
The program is limited to 44 northern Florida counties located within the range of the southern pine beetle. Qualified landowners may apply for up to two approved practices per year. The minimum tract size requirement is 10 acres (5 acres for First Pulpwood Thinning) and funding requests may not exceed $10,000. Only one application per landowner is permitted per year.
Applying to the Program
This program will accept new applications from September 1–October 9, 2026.
To apply to the program, landowners should obtain the following documents from this webpage or from a Florida Forest Service County Forester office:
2026 Guidelines and Forms
-
Technical Guidelines Booklet
[
1.6 MB
]
- Southern Pine Beetle Assistance and Prevention Application [ Adobe PDF Document ]
- All applicants must also register their W-9 information at the State of Florida Vendor Website: File Substitute W-9. Vendors are required to have a verified Substitute Form W-9 on file with the Florida Department of Financial Services. A printout of the Substitute Form W-9 must be included with the registration materials.
Applications received before the start of the application period, or received (or postmarked) after the end date will not be considered, or will receive lowest priority ranking for any remaining available funds. All applications received at any time during the application period will be equally evaluated and ranked for funding approval using established criteria. The program is supported through temporary grants from the USDA Forest Service and limited funding is available.
