Julie Quick (202) 720-4623

Ed Loyd (202) 720-4623

VENEMAN ANNOUNCES THE AVAILABILITY OF NEARLY \$500 MILLION IN DISASTER
ASSISTANCE TO RESTORE FARMLAND, FORESTS

*\$5 Million in Grants Available to Aid Farm Workers*

GREENSBORO, N.C., Oct. 25, 2004---Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman
today announced the availability of nearly \$500 million in disaster
assistance to restore farmland and forests. The funds are part of the
\$13 billion hurricane relief package signed by President Bush on Oct.
13, 2004.

"President Bush has directed federal agencies to quickly administer aid
to those who have suffered losses due to severe weather conditions,"
Veneman said during remarks to the 10^th^ Annual Women in Agriculture
conference being held here. "Today's announcement marks the first
program rollout under disaster legislation that provides more than \$3
billion in relief to farmers, ranchers, farm workers, foresters and
agriculture related businesses."

The funds announced today include \$353 million in conservation
restoration funding to farmers, ranchers and communities nationwide,
\$113 million to eight southeastern states and Puerto Rico to restore
forests damaged by this season's four hurricanes, and \$5 million in
assistance to help repair farm worker housing and provide assistance to
farm workers in the affected areas.

This assistance is in addition to the announcement in September of more
than \$500 million in special disaster relief for producers of citrus,
fruits and vegetables, and nursery crops. Sign up for the citrus program
began Oct. 5 and sign up for the nursery and fruits and vegetable
assistance began Oct 20. Producers should begin receiving the assistance
after the regulations are published in the *Federal Register,* which is
expected next week.

**Emergency Conservation Program\--\$103 Million**

The Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) helps farmers and ranchers
rehabilitate farmland damaged by severe weather. The program provides
financial and technical assistance to help producers remove debris from
farmland, restore fences and conservation structures, provide water for
livestock in drought situations and grade and shape farmland damaged by
a natural disaster.

The program is administered by USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) state
and county committees. Locally-elected county committees are authorized
to implement ECP for all disasters except drought, which is authorized
at the national office of FSA. More information can be found at :
[http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov]{.underline} and

# Emergency Watershed Program\--\$250 Million

The Emergency Watershed Program (EWP) provides funding for
locally-sponsored watershed protection projects resulting from the
recent hurricanes and other natural disasters such as tornadoes, fires,
drought and floods. Through EWP, the Natural Resources Conservation
Service (NRCS) provides technical and financial assistance to protect
life and property threatened by excessive erosion and flooding caused by
the sudden impairment of a watershed from a natural disaster. NRCS works
in partnership with local, state and federal agencies to ensure public
safety and to address restoration efforts on private lands.

These rehabilitation projects provide sound erosion control measures
that are economically and environmentally defensible. EWP funds are used
to remove debris, restore eroded streambanks, re-seed burned areas, and
take related steps to mitigate threats to people and properly from
impaired watersheds. More information can be found at
[http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/EWP]{.underline}.

**Farm Worker Grants\--\$5 million**

USDA Rural Development will publish a notice in the *Federal Register*
soon outlining specific guidelines for submitting applications for the
\$5 million in grant funds. For areas affected by a named tropical storm
or hurricane during 2003 and 2004, \$5 million in competitive grant
funds will be available to local and state governments and nonprofit
organizations. Two million dollars will be available for repair or
rehabilitation of off-farm labor housing and the remaining \$3 million
will be used for general assistance for low-income migrant and seasonal
farm workers and their families. Additional information on the special
funding assistance is available at:
[www.rurdev.usda.gov](http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/).

# Forest Rehabilitation\--\$113 Million 

Forests this year in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Puerto Rico all
sustained damage from either hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan or
Jeanne. The funding will be used by the Forest Service and States for
on-the-ground work to restore thousands of acres of trees, hundreds of
miles of trails and roads, dozens of recreation and administrative
sites, bridges and other infrastructure as well as endangered species
habitat. The funds will also be used to reduce the risk of potential
insect, disease and invasive weed infestations. In addition, because the
southeast now faces an increased risk of wildland fire due to downed
trees and other hazardous fuels, the money will be used for wildland
fire management.

North Carolina will receive of total of more than \$47 million for
restoring damaged roads, trails and facilities in the National Forest
System and for stabilizing soils in areas affected by landslides and
debris flows as well as stream channels that have experienced excessive
amounts of erosion and/or deposition.

Florida will receive a total of more than \$40 million for its national,
state and private forest resources. The money will be used for state and
volunteer fire resources, debris removal and repair to roads, trails,
particularly the Florida National Scenic Trail, and recreational
facilities in Florida's national forests.

Alabama will receive more than \$19 million for recovery of forest
resources, including money to fund additional state and volunteer fire
resources. The remaining more than \$5 million will go to Georgia,
Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Puerto Rico for
work on national forests.

Because the Southeast now faces an increased risk of wildland fire due
to increased amount of downed trees and other hazardous fuels, the money
will also go to support wildland fire management efforts and to help
states clean up debris that could otherwise fuel future wildland fires.

Recovery work is expected to take up to 18 months.

Veneman praised the unprecedented support given by the USDA Forest
Service to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and states in
the federal hurricane response effort in addition to these disaster
funds.

"The USDA Forest Service are experts in helping manage disasters. They
committed more than 1,200 personnel from its wildland fire community to
manage highly complex receiving and distribution centers, base camps,
logistics staging areas in hurricane-stricken states," said Veneman.
"This effort represents the broadest application of the Incident Command
System to a non-fire natural disaster."

The Forest Service uses the incident management structure to manage a
human-caused or natural occurrence that requires emergency service
action to prevent or reduce the loss of life or damage to property or
natural resources. Costs per date for the wildland fire community
hurricane response effort are estimated at \$25 million.

More information can be found at [www.fs.fed.us](http://www.fs.fed.us/).

A list outlining state allocations is attached.

\#

####  {#section .unnumbered}

#### State Allocation of Funding

+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| ###       |         |   | **E      |         |   | **Forest  |         |
| Emergency |         |   | mergency |         |   | Rehabil   |         |
|  Conserva |         |   | W        |         |   | itation** |         |
| tion Prog |         |   | atershed |         |   |           |         |
| ram (ECP) |         |   | Program  |         |   |           |         |
|           |         |   | (EWP)**  |         |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| **State** | **Fu    |   | *        | **Fu    |   | **State** | **Fu    |
|           | nding** |   | *State** | nding** |   |           | nding** |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Alabama   | \$2,    |   | Alabama  | \$3,    |   | #         | \$19,   |
|           | 756,000 |   |          | 586,040 |   | # Alabama | 537,000 |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Arizona   | 401,100 |   | Arizona  | 46,000  |   | Florida   | 40,     |
|           |         |   |          |         |   |           | 637,000 |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Arkansas  | 102,000 |   | Arkansas | 297,000 |   | Georgia   | 3,      |
|           |         |   |          |         |   |           | 174,000 |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| C         | 79,000  |   | Colorado | 250,000 |   | Mi        | 36,000  |
| alifornia |         |   |          |         |   | ssissippi |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Colorado  | 670,600 |   | Delaware | 660,172 |   | North     | 47,     |
|           |         |   |          |         |   | Carolina  | 210,000 |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Co        | 23,800  |   | Florida  | 120,    |   | Puerto    | 436,000 |
| nnecticut |         |   |          | 301,000 |   | Rico      |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Florida   | 61,     |   | Georgia  | 3,      |   | South     | 550,000 |
|           | 342,000 |   |          | 350,600 |   | Carolina  |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Georgia   | 4,      |   | Illinois | 114,000 |   | Tennessee | 1,      |
|           | 885,200 |   |          |         |   |           | 391,000 |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Hawaii    | 175,100 |   | Indiana  | 2,      |   | Virginia  | 125,000 |
|           |         |   |          | 022,700 |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Idaho     | 363,200 |   | Kansas   | 410,800 |   | **TOTAL** | **\     |
|           |         |   |          |         |   |           | $113,09 |
|           |         |   |          |         |   |           | 6,000** |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Illinois  | 86,800  |   | Massa    | 555,000 |   |           |         |
|           |         |   | chusetts |         |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Indiana   | 222,600 |   | Maryland | 1,      |   |           |         |
|           |         |   |          | 581,600 |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Iowa      | 2,      |   | Maine    | 408,000 |   |           |         |
|           | 469,500 |   |          |         |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Kansas    | 43,500  |   | Michigan | 600,000 |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Kentucky  | 165,600 |   | M        | 3,      |   |           |         |
|           |         |   | innesota | 426,200 |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Maine     | 59,000  |   | Missouri | 294,500 |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Maryland  | 34,000  |   | Mis      | 6,      |   |           |         |
|           |         |   | sissippi | 676,300 |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Mass      | 10,000  |   | North    | 65,     |   |           |         |
| achusetts |         |   | Carolina | 683,246 |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Michigan  | 28,600  |   | New York | 512,000 |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Minnesota | 10,500  |   | Ohio     | 48,000  |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Mi        | 140,500 |   | Oklahoma | 4,      |   |           |         |
| ssissippi |         |   |          | 371,222 |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Missouri  | 955,400 |   | Oregon   | 150,000 |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Montana   | 2,      |   | Penn     | 2,      |   |           |         |
|           | 028,400 |   | sylvania | 808,500 |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Nebraska  | 1,      |   | Pacific  | 84,000  |   |           |         |
|           | 506,100 |   | Basin    |         |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Nevada    | 1,      |   | Puerto   | 5,      |   |           |         |
|           | 293,800 |   | Rico     | 691,820 |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| New       | 290,200 |   | South    | 2,      |   |           |         |
| Mexico    |         |   | Carolina | 637,700 |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| New York  | 185,500 |   | T        | 11,     |   |           |         |
|           |         |   | ennessee | 716,100 |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| North     | 6,      |   | Texas    | 2,      |   |           |         |
| Carolina  | 302,600 |   |          | 710,700 |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| North     | 22,500  |   | Utah     | 3,      |   |           |         |
| Dakota    |         |   |          | 602,600 |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Ohio      | 315,000 |   | Virginia | 2,      |   |           |         |
|           |         |   |          | 110,800 |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Oklahoma  | 431,100 |   | Vermont  | 126,000 |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Oregon    | 165,100 |   | W        | 12,900  |   |           |         |
|           |         |   | isconsin |         |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Pen       | 1,      |   | West     | 2,      |   |           |         |
| nsylvania | 398,200 |   | Virginia | 213,300 |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| South     | 1,      |   |          |         |   |           |         |
| Carolina  | 776,200 |   |          |         |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| South     | 6,      |   | R        | 941,200 |   |           |         |
| Dakota    | 065,800 |   | eserve\* |         |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Tennessee | 80,000  |   | *        | **\     |   |           |         |
|           |         |   | *TOTAL** | $250,00 |   |           |         |
|           |         |   |          | 0,000** |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Texas     | 657,900 |   |          |         |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Utah      | 2,      |   |          |         |   |           |         |
|           | 345,100 |   |          |         |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Vermont   | 78,800  |   |          |         |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Virginia  | 761,900 |   |          |         |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| W         | 305,300 |   |          |         |   |           |         |
| ashington |         |   |          |         |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| West      | 1,      |   |          |         |   |           |         |
| Virginia  | 128,300 |   |          |         |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| Wyoming   | 847,000 |   |          |         |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+
| **TOTAL** | **\     |   |          |         |   |           |         |
|           | $103,00 |   |          |         |   |           |         |
|           | 8,800** |   |          |         |   |           |         |
+-----------+---------+---+----------+---------+---+-----------+---------+

*\*Reserve: These funds are for contract modification and potential
overruns.*