1410.12—Emergency Forestry Program.
(a)
In addition to other allowable enrollments, certain non-industrial private forest land located in Presidential- or Secretarial-declared primary disaster counties that suffered damage from hurricanes in calendar year 2005 may be enrolled through the Emergency Forestry Conservation Reserve Program (EFCRP) provided for in this section.
(b)
Owners and/or operators may enroll non-industrial private forest land, as defined in § 1410.2, in the CRP provided that the private non-industrial forest land:
(1)
Has merchantable timber (timber on land on which the average tree has a trunk diameter of at least six inches measured at a point no less than four and one-half feet above the ground); and
(2)
Has experienced a loss of 35 percent or more of merchantable timber in a 2005 calendar year hurricane-affected county due to 2005 hurricanes.
(d)
Any overall acreage enrollment limit imposed on CRP shall not apply to acreage enrolled under this section.
(1)
To restore the land, through site preparation and planting of, to the maximum extent practicable, native species or similar species as existing prior to hurricane damages as may be specified in the contract, and comply with other requirements as may be specified in the contract;
(3)
That the contract term shall be for a period of 10 years, during which time standing timber may not be harvested from the enrolled land except as may be approved by CCC in the conservation plan as part of the normal maintenance of the forest land.
(f)
Offers for contracts under this section shall be submitted under continuous signup provisions as authorized in § 1410.30.
(g)
In evaluating contract offers to which this section applies, different factors, as determined by CCC, may be considered for priority purposes. These include but are not limited to soil erosion prevention, water quality improvement, wildlife habitat restoration, and mitigation of economic loss.
(i)
The average rental rate for CRP contracts in the county in which the land is actually located; or
(ii)
In the case where no CRP contracts are enrolled in a county, the average rental rate will be the CRP rate applicable to a nearby similarly-situated county.
(2)
In lieu of the annual payments provided for in paragraph (h)(1) of this section, lump sum payment equal to the present value of the total amount of annual rental payments that would otherwise be paid under paragraph (h)(1) of this section.
(i)
Cost-share assistance authorized under § 1410.40 may be reduced by the value of salvaged timber or timber products which are removed to prepare the site for replanting.
(j)
The provisions of § 1410.7(c), which concern enrollment limits, do not apply to contracts to which this section applies.
(k)
To avoid duplicate payments, participants under this section are not eligible to receive EFCRP funding for land on which the participant has or will receive funding under any other program that covers the same expenses.