The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has announced grants totaling $33.5 million to restore, enhance, and protect longleaf pine forests and improve wildlife populations.

The largest grant slate in the history of the Longleaf Landscape Stewardship Fund (LLSF) will leverage $21.2 million in matching contributions to generate a total conservation impact of $54.7 million. The longleaf pine ecosystem is one of the most biodiverse in the world, and supported projects are expected to establish more than 70,000 acres of longleaf pine habitat through plantings and complete prescribed burnings on an additional 430,000 acres throughout Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. Projects will also increase longleaf seedling capacity and assist populations of at-risk wildlife including the gopher tortoise, the red-cockaded woodpecker, and the eastern indigo snake.

LLSF is a public-private partnership that includes U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bezos Earth Fund, International Paper’s Forestland Stewards Partnership, Southern Company, Altria Group, Energy Transfer, and the Orton Foundation (an affiliate of the Moore Charitable Foundation

“Through this record investment of more than $33 million, the 30 projects announced today will help partners scale up efforts to reach more landowners and implement innovative voluntary approaches to restoring longleaf pine habitat and helping the wildlife that rely on this important forest ecosystem,” said NFWF executive director and CEO Jeff Trandahl. “These projects would not be possible without the incredible network of funding partners and on-the-ground conservationists working collaboratively to reach the America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative’s goal of restoring eight million acres.”

For a complete list of LLSF grants, see the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation website.

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Ryan McGurl)