Browse Ambrook’s collection of funding programs by Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC)

Application through GFC during the signup period (currently closed); approved applicants submit invoices and map to the local GFC forester.

Deadline text on the page: The application period is currently closed. Recipients must plant the trees during the 2025-2026 tree-planting season.

Matthew O'Connor

Cost Share Coordinator

General office

Arbor Day Foundation funding, administered by the Georgia Forestry Commission, that reimburses Georgia forest landowners for the cost of pine seedlings. Landowners submit seedling and planting invoices and a map after planting; a GFC forester inspects the planting.



- Georgia forest landowners.
- Planting area minimum 10 acres.
- Species must be commercial, native and match the site.

A payment that requires some percentage of matching contributions by the recipient.

Cost Share

Reimbursement after planting and inspection; $10,000 per landowner cap.

Published amounts: Payment limitation of $10,000 per landowner. Reimburses forest landowners for the cost of seedlings (index: loblolly, slash, and longleaf pine).

Contact GFC's Forest Legacy Specialist.

Deadline text on the page: No deadline published; projects compete in the national Forest Legacy ranking.

Alexandra Ford

Forest Legacy Specialist

Georgia's Forest Legacy Program buys or accepts donated working forest conservation easements (or fee land) from willing landowners who want to keep land in forestry. Landowners keep ownership, timber harvesting continues, and GFC writes a forest management plan. Purchases compete in a national ranking.



- Willing private forest landowners, priority to lands in Georgia's Forest Legacy Areas that can be effectively protected and managed.
- Public access not required.

Payment per unit of land to do or avoid certain practices related to land management.

Easement

Perpetual working forest conservation easement held by the State.

Published amounts: For the purchase of easements or land, grants are awarded on a competitive basis and are based on a national priority ranking of projects. Donated easements may qualify for federal and state income tax credits.

Apply online through the GRIP application (Survey123) during the June 15 - July 3 sign-up, or contact the local GFC Forester.

Deadline text on the page: The sign-up period will be open from June 15th to July 3rd.

Georgia Forestry Commission cost-share for non-industrial forest landowners to thin, release, mulch, burn, and reforest pine or native hardwood stands. Pays per-acre rates set at 75% of average practice cost. Sign-up runs each summer.



- Non-industrial landowners (private individuals, groups, associations, corporations, Indian tribes, other private legal entities), excluding publicly traded corporations and entities principally engaged in processing or manufacturing wood products.
- Minimum practice size is 10 acres.

Pays the listed per-acre rate or 100% of actual cost, whichever is less.

Published amounts: A per acre pay rate is based on 75% of the average cost of the practice in Georgia; landowners receive the listed rate or 100% of actual cost, whichever is less. Non-commercial thinning $130/acre; chemical release $60/acre; understory mulching $150/acre; prescribed burning $20/acre; site preparation $70/acre; tree planting $130/acre.

Complete the Huber seedling application, signed by the landowner, and return it to the local GFC Forester.

Deadline text on the page: The signup period ends on August 14th, 2026. Final approvals will be announced by August 19, 2026.

Free pine seedlings from the GFC nursery for landowners in 37 north and east Georgia counties, paid for by a Huber Engineered Woods donation. A forester writes a planting plan that the landowner must follow; applicants are randomly selected if oversubscribed.



- Land in listed counties (Banks, Barrow, Burke, Cherokee, Clarke, Cobb, Columbia, Dawson, DeKalb, Elbert, Forsyth, Franklin, Glascock, Greene, Gwinnett, Habersham, Hall, Hancock, Hart, Jackson, Jasper, Lincoln, Lumpkin, Madison, McDuffie, Morgan, Newton, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Putnam, Rockdale, Stephens, Taliaferro, Walton, Warren, White, Wilkes).
- Planting area minimum 10 acres.
- Reforestation plan by a registered forester must be followed.
- Site ready for the 2026-2027 planting season.

A reduction or waiving of fees for meeting a certain criteria.

Discount

Landowner pays for trees not properly planted per plan.

Published amounts: Huber Engineered Woods LLC has donated $30K to fund the purchase of pine seedlings; seedlings given to qualified landowners.

Apply online through the IPCP application during the sign-up period, or contact the local GFC Forester.

Deadline text on the page: The sign-up period will be open through July 3rd, 2026. Practices must be completed by April 1, 2027.

Cost-share for Georgia forest landowners to treat listed nonnative invasive plants (privet, Japanese climbing fern, Chinese tallowtree, chinaberry, Callery pear, olive species, kudzu, wisteria) with herbicide or mechanical-plus-herbicide treatments. Administered by GFC with U.S. Forest Service funding.



- Private non-industrial landowners and lands owned by local governments; excludes publicly traded corporations and wood processors/manufacturers.
- Minimum practice size 3 acres; landowner must own at least 10 acres of forest land.

$60/acre; max $10,000 per landowner; not to exceed 75% of documented cost; practices completed by April 1, 2027 (current cycle).

Published amounts: Participants receive a rate of $60 per acre for areas treated according to program specifications. There is a maximum of $10,000 per landowner. Payments will not exceed 75% of the documented landowner cost.

Apply online through GFC's SPB application (Survey123) during the sign-up window; questions to the Cost Share Coordinator.

Deadline text on the page: The sign-up period will be open from September 18, 2026 to October 9, 2026.

Cost-share for Georgia forest landowners to thin overstocked pine stands or suppress active southern pine beetle spots. Covers commercial thinning, suppression of active spots, and non-commercial thinning of pre-merchantable stands. Priority goes to priority counties and stands with active infestations.



- Non-industrial landowners (private individuals, groups, associations, corporations, Indian tribes, other private legal entities), excluding publicly traded corporations and entities principally engaged in processing or manufacturing wood products.
- All of Georgia eligible; priority to priority counties or active SPB infestations.
- Practice size 10 to 50 acres (20-acre minimum if commercial thinning is the only practice).
- Susceptible southern yellow pine stands.
- No retroactive cost-share; work must follow written approval.

Harvest contract required within 6 months of written approval for suppression/commercial thinning; harvesting and non-commercial thinning completed within 12 months of approval.

Published amounts: Per acre pay rate based on 50% of the average cost of the practice in Georgia; approved funding = listed per-acre rate or 75% of recorded costs, whichever is less. Maximum funding amount will be $10,000. Non-commercial thinning $130/acre; Commercial Thinning $200/acre; Suppression $200/acre.

Apply online after the burn is completed, with the burn permit number.

Deadline text on the page: FY26 applications will be accepted between 1/28/2026 – 3/31/2026.

RT Lumpkin

Lisa Duncan

Per-acre payment for completed prescribed burns on private forest land in 12 west central Georgia counties, aimed at bobwhite quail and gopher tortoise habitat. Landowners apply after the burn using their burn permit number.



- Privately owned forested land in Chattahoochee, Dooly, Harris, Macon, Marion, Muscogee, Schley, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Taylor, or Webster county.
- Burn completed within the application window (FY26: 1/1/2026 - 3/31/2026) with a burn permit.

$10-$25/acre, max $4,500 per landowner (FY26).

Published amounts: We anticipate the initiative will pay between $10.00 -$25.00 per acre (max $4500 per landowner) for approved prescribed burning on privately owned forested land.

List of Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC) Funding Opportunities