ASHEVILLE, NC — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service and the North Carolina Forest Service (NCFS) have signed a nearly $65 million, 10-year Good Neighbor Agreement aimed at supporting ongoing Hurricane Helene recovery efforts across Western North Carolina.
The funding will target wildfire fuel reduction, forest restoration, and invasive species management across public and private forestlands impacted by the storm, while bringing new forestry and restoration jobs to the region.
Following Hurricane Helene, NCFS estimated that more than 800,000 acres of forestland were impacted across Western North Carolina, leaving tens of thousands of downed trees across the Nantahala and Pisgah national forests. The immense volume of blowdowns and debris created an unprecedented wildfire threat to nearby homes and communities, while severely obstructing firefighter access.
“This is a significant investment in Western N.C. and in helping protect homes, property and timber resources in the region from the increased fire risk of downed trees and debris that remains on public and private lands following Hurricane Helene,” said N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. “The Good Neighbor Agreement and funding will allow work to remove these potential fire fuels to also take place on private lands in disaster impacted counties that meet shared management goals.”
National Forests in North Carolina Forest Supervisor James Melonas highlighted that while responders have contained multiple blazes in blowdown areas since the storm, significant hazard risks remain for rural families living in wildland-urban interface zones.
“After Helene, we knew we were looking at years of recovery and mitigation work to reduce increased wildfire risk across Western North Carolina,” said NCFS Assistant Commissioner and State Forester Greg Hicks. “The Good Neighbor Authority and strong agency and community partnerships are critical tools for not only restoring forests and communities but for preparing them for wildfire.”
First established by Congress in 2001 and expanded in the 2018 Farm Bill, the Good Neighbor Authority allows the USDA Forest Service to partner directly with state agencies, counties, and tribes to execute critical watershed management, fuel reduction, and forest health projects across jurisdictional boundaries.
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