USDA Invests more than $1.5 Million in Tribal Communities to Fund Plant Protection Projects

WASHINGTON, January 6, 2024 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing more than $1.5 million to support 12 plant protection projects focusing on Tribal Nations’ infrastructure for pest detection, surveillance, threat mitigation, and outreach. These funds aim to help indigenous communities safeguard our food supply and natural resources from invasive pests. Projects include surveys for weeds, emergency responses to pests, and outreach in Tribal communities.
“USDA is dedicated to protecting natural resources and ensuring food security in indigenous communities,” said USDA Under Secretary Jenny Moffitt. “These funds will empower Tribal Nations to protect agriculture and forests from invasive plant pests and diseases by providing them with the tools essential to fight these threats.”

These funds will support projects covering a range of plant health and pest mitigation activities, including, but not limited to:

• $329,889 to support the Nez Perce Tribe’s effort to survey for invasive, noxious weeds, and produce and release biological controls on their lands as part of their integrated weed management strategy;
• $306,270 to support the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe’s emergency response to the emerald ash borer in New York to minimize the pest’s impacts to ash trees and habitat;
• $351,161 to develop and release a biological control for common crupina, in two states and Tribal lands;
• $65,972 to support an Ash and Hemlock protection project on Maine’s Tribal lands; and
• $40,000 to support the Wisconsin Tribal Conservation Advisory Council’s survey for forest pests in the state.

Since 2009, USDA has supported more than 5,520 projects and provided nearly $870 million in PPA 7721 funding. These projects help USDA, and its partners quickly detect and respond to invasive plant pests and diseases. They also help our country maintain the essential infrastructure in place that enables U.S. specialty crop producers to have access to healthy, certified disease-free plants.

In addition to the PPA 7721 annual funding opportunities, USDA offers a variety of programs and services that are available to Tribal governments, communities and organizations, and individual Native Americans and Alaskan Natives. Visit the Office of Tribal Relations (OTR) website for information on USDA programs and services available to Tribal communities.
View the fiscal year 2024 Plant Protection Act’s Section 7721 spending plans online: www.aphis.usda.gov/ppa-projects.