Mississippi Forest Resource Development Program (FRDP) (FRDP)

Mississippi's state cost-share program for establishing and improving a crop of trees, created in 1974 and funded by the Timber Severance Tax. It reimburses landowners at flat per-practice rates (up to 75% of cost) for tree planting, site preparation, release, prescribed burning, firebreaks, pre-commercial thinning, mid-rotation treatments and more, up to $10,000 per year. Landowners work with their MFC Area Forester on a management prescription and pay costs up front.

• Landowners in Mississippi who own at least 10 acres of manageable forestland

• Private nonindustrial landowners, groups, or associations; landowning state agencies; a political subdivision of Mississippi

• A forest management prescription for each area receiving cost-share; practices completed in the approved fiscal year (July 1 – June 30)

• Cannot be applied on acreage already receiving federally-funded assistance; trees must be protected from destructive fire and grazing and managed for timber for at least ten years

Landowner pays the total cost first; FRDP payment only after costs are paid and the practice passes final inspection; 10-year maintenance commitment (reimburse the state in full if practices are destroyed, excluding acts of nature or wildfire); not repeated for any practice except after natural-disaster failure.

Published amounts: Cost-share payments cover up to 75 percent (depending on the practice) of the total cost of implementing one or more forestry practices at the flat rate established for each practice. Eligible landowners can receive up to $10,000 of FRDP assistance each year. Cost Share Rates FY 2027 (per acre) include: Tree Planting-Pine (bare root) $90; Tree Planting-Hardwood $145; Tree Planting-Free Seedlings $56; Light Site Preparation-Chemical $65; Heavy Site Preparation-Chemical $70; Heavy Site Preparation-Mechanical $130; Release Chemical $60; Site Preparation Burning $30; Silvicultural Burning $26; Tree Planting - Containerized Longleaf $125; Tree Planting - Bareroot Longleaf $90; Tree Planting - Containerized Loblolly $125; Kudzu Control $150; Pre-Commercial Thinning $200; Hack & Squirt (TSI) $262; Mulching $165 (full table in the FY 2027 rates PDF). Paid at the current cost-share rate or 75% of actual cost, whichever is less (Form 660.2).

Contact your local MFC office (Find Your Forester) and fill out the FRDP application (Form 660.2 Cost Share Agreement). The Area Forester helps prepare the prescription; the local office confirms funding amounts when the application is finalized.

Deadline text on the page: We accept applications for FRDP assistance on a first-come, first-served basis. Landowners who do not receive immediate cost-share assistance will be notified as soon as funds become available. All forestry practices must be completed during the fiscal year for which they are approved (July 1 – June 30).