In a letter sent to USDA Forest Service Chief Randy Moore today, four organizations asked that the $160 million included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) for Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) restoration projects be implemented with input from the agency’s partners in each of its regions.
Our organizations represent essential partnerships in realizing GNA accomplishments to date. We have supported GNA since its beginning as a pilot authority, through its permanent expansion in the 2014 Farm Bill, and successfully advocated for amendments in the 2018 Omnibus and 2018 Farm Bill which further expanded GNA as a restoration tool. As you understand and appreciate, successful implementation of this funding will require coordinating with and leveraging the resources and expertise of state forestry agencies and non-governmental organization (NGO) partners to maximize the impact of BIL GNA investments. It is critical this GNA funding be additive to the current body of GNA work and not substitutionary.
Read the letter in full by clicking the link below.