BANGOR, Maine — The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry's Maine Forest Service is providing up to $85,000 for a new invasive plant management program.
As part of the program, foresters and other natural resource professionals will be trained to control invasive plants, and then work with public and private landowners who have 10 to 1,000 wooded acres to develop invasive plant control practice plans.
Select landowners will receive funding to implement the recommendations to remove invasive plants from their land.
Maine Forest Service Senior Planner Jan Santerres said the goal of the program is to address invasive plants that choke out native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers in the eligible woodlands.
"They are not valuable species to our native wildlife," Santerre said. "They really do a lot of harm to the environment, and so we want to do everything we possibly can to push them back and try to control them. It’s really quite thrilling to us to have some funds available to be able to provide to landowners."
More details about the program can be found here.
If you're interested in applying for the program, an application can be found here. Applications are due by 5 p.m., May 31, 2021.