Regenerate New York Forestry Cost Share Grant Program

Funding for Private Landowners to Grow the Forests of the Future

This grant program was created to support landowners in restoring their forests or establishing new ones. Healthy forests provide vital services to our communities. They filter out air and water pollutants, provide food and shelter for wildlife, support local economies, and mitigate the impacts of climate change. To ensure these services are maintained, it is essential that our forests continually regenerate or regrow so there are younger trees to take the place of older ones as they die. But there are significant challenges to forest regeneration in New York State (NYS), including:

• An overpopulation of deer that can devastate forest understories by eating tree seedlings;
• Competing vegetation, especially invasive plants, that outcompete native tree seedlings for light, water, and nutrients, limiting new growth; and
• Increasingly extreme weather—hotter and drier growing seasons, more severe rain and wind storms, heavier snow storms—that damages or weakens trees, making them more susceptible to insect and disease attacks. 

Active management of our forests is essential to mitigate these challenges and increase forest health and resiliency, ensuring they continue to thrive long into the future. 

Through Regenerate NY, landowners can apply for financial assistance for projects on their land that support the establishment and renewal of healthy forests. Starting with this most recent grant round (Round 5), funding will now be released through a new performance-based payment system. This new payment structure will allow landowners to receive partial advance payments to carry out planned work by submitting workplans and budgets at the beginning of the planning process.

More information for applicants, including further details on each of the sections below, can be found in the Request for Applications (RFA).

Webinar for Interested Applicants

A webinar explaining project eligibility and the application process (including info on the use of the Statewide Financial System (SFS) was held on Tuesday, February 3, 2026.

View the recorded webinar and presentation slides (PDF) .

Program Overview

Grant Opportunities

There are two opportunities available for applicants:

• Small budget projects – awards range from a minimum of $10,000 up to $49,999. (Of the available funding, a maximum of $1 million will be directed to small budget projects.)
• Large budget projects – awards range from $50,000 up to a maximum of $1 million.

An Excel budget workbook (available under Downloads) is required as part of the application process to confirm which opportunity an applicant should apply for and, upon grant approval, outline how grant funds will be distributed. 

Match Requirements

A 10% match is required. For example, a $50,000 project would require a small budget grant amount of $45,000 and a $5,000 investment by the applicant. Match can be from local funding and/or in-kind contributions that are not from, or supported by, other NYS or federal funding sources. In-kind contributions are non-cash donations provided by non-state and/or non-federal third parties which can include salary, equipment, supplies, services, and other expendable property.

Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants include:

• Non-industrial private landowners—any Individuals, trusts, corporate entities, or other for-profit entities—who own less than 2,500 acres of land;
• Not-for-profit organizations, and state or federally recognized Indian Nations or Tribes (no limit on amount of acreage owned); and
• Companies or organizations acting on behalf of non-industrial private landowners (listed above). Examples include:
  • Quasi-government agencies, such as Soil and Water Conservation Districts
  • Private forestry businesses
  • Natural resource businesses focused on tree planting
  • 501(c)(3) not-for-profits 

Eligible Projects

Projects must treat five acres or more, be able to be completed within three years, and must include at least one of the following forestry practices.

1. Afforestation/reforestation - Conduct activities that encourage the establishment or regeneration of trees to create or maintain a forested landscape. This may include site preparation, tree planting, or installing tree protection. Planting projects must use native trees or non-native species that are not invasive. For more information on tree planting and maintenance, visit our page on how to plant a tree or the Cornell Guide for Planting and Maintaining Trees and Shrubs.
2. Regeneration Silviculture/Early Successional Habitat - Apply stewardship practices or treatments that boost regeneration of forest stands that are currently in a degraded or unhealthy state. Approved treatments may include seed trees, shelterwood, and other canopy gap harvests that would promote natural regeneration by allowing substantially more sunlight to reach the forest floor.
3. Forest Health Resiliency Thinning – Thinning the forest overstory to boost resiliency in stands that are susceptible to, or currently experiencing, an outbreak of insect pests or disease. This management practice targets forest stands that are overcrowded (growing too densely)—which results in increased competition for resources, leading to weaker trees that are more vulnerable to insect and disease attacks and trees that are of low ecological or economic value. Management methods may include single tree selection or other overstory harvest practices. 
   • A maximum of $1 million will be available for this practice in this grant round. When the funds have been exhausted, applicants will be notified and allowed to modify their application.
4. Competing Vegetation Control - Employ mechanical removal or chemical control to address aggressive native or invasive plant species that interfere with forest establishment or regeneration. DEC has a list of certified applicators and technicians that can be consulted with for this project type.
5. Deer Exclosures - Install fencing, slash walls, or other barriers around an area or individual seedlings to protect young trees from deer browse and allow natural regeneration to occur. For more information on slash walls, visit The Cornell Slash Wall Resource Center.

Priority Landowners and Projects

The priority applicant and project funding deadline has passed. All of the remaining funding is now available to any eligible landowner or project type. A portion of the grant funds was reserved until March 10, 2026, for landowners and/or projects that met the following criteria: 

Landowners:

• First time landowners (have owned property less than 10 years);
• Active or Veteran Military Landowners; and
• State or Federally Recognized Indian Nations or Tribes.

Projects dedicated to:

• Improving the health of significantly degraded forests due to an insect pest or disease outbreak; and
• Large scale planting (greater than 5 acres).

Application Process

This grant opportunity is now closed. All applications must be submitted through the SFS. Paper applications will not be accepted. Applicants must register in SFS before they can apply and not-for-profits must also prequalify before the application deadline or their grant proposal will not be evaluated. Up to two applications may be submitted per applicant, provided they are for separate properties.

Applicants must work with a forester or other natural resource professional to:

• Fill out the Practice Plan Template (PDF) to identify the current project site conditions, list the forestry practices that will be used to improve the site, and the management objectives (i.e. planting, cutting trees, etc.).
• Create a workplan (see sample workplan in Appendix 5 of the RFA) that outlines the specific work necessary to accomplish the management objectives, along with the estimated timeline for the work to be accomplished, and 
• Fill out the Excel budget workbook to identify the itemized costs of the entire project. The budget workbook will help landowners correctly complete information necessary for their SFS application.

 Find a DEC cooperating forester (PDF)

A workplan (see example workplan in the RFA) outlining the estimated schedule of the work to be accomplished through this grant, and an Excel budget workbook that reflects the costs associated with that workplan, must be submitted as part of the application process. The budget workbook will help landowners correctly complete information necessary for their SFS application.

Budget Workbook Fix: Applicants using the Excel budget workbook available on SFS may have issues uploading it during the application process. Use one of the following two options to solve this issue:

• Download the new version of the Excel budget workbook from this webpage. This version is a .xlsx file type, which can be uploaded without issue, OR
• Change the original Excel budget workbook from a macro-enabled (.xlsm) file to a standard (.xls) file. An Excel pop-up message will ask if you are okay saving without macros; click yes.

Please note, the original copy of the budget workbook cannot be changed on the SFS application page. If you downloaded and filled out that version, please follow the second step listed above. If you have any issues, please reach out to the [email protected] email.

Applicants can use the Regenerate NY Application Checklist (PDF) to help them assemble any required supporting documentation in advance of applying. Questions regarding registration, prequalification, and submitting applications should be directed to (855) 233-8363 or email [email protected].

Distribution of Grant Funds

Under the new performance-based payment structure, landowners will receive advance portions of the grant money each year of the project based on the budget worksheet submitted with the application, as well as completion of the annual deliverables (milestones) outlined in the workplan. Funding will be released as follows:

• Landowners will receive 75% of the first year’s costs upfront at the beginning of the project.
• After the landowners have completed the first year of work outlined in the workplan and submitted a report, another 15% of the costs for that year, plus 75% of the costs for the work outlined for the next project year will be released.
• The remaining 10% of the overall project costs will be held until the end of the project to buffer changes in the budget and ensure maintenance requirements have been completed.

For example, an approved three-year project with a $30,000 budget that requires $10,000 per year to complete the work plan, would unfold as follows: 

• The landowner would receive $7,500 to complete the work for the first year.
• At the end of the first year, the landowner would complete their annual report of work completed and once approved, $1,500 would be released to the landowner with $1,000 held until the entire project is complete.
• This process would repeat each year until the project is completed in the third year.
• The remaining 10%, or $3,000 in funds would be released after the final project report has been approved and any necessary maintenance steps have been completed.

Downloads

Excel Budget Workbook

Practice Plan Template (PDF)

Herbicide Application Plan (PDF)

Deadlines

This grant is now closed. Bid requests exhausted grant funds on March 30, 2026, signaling the end of the application period. 

Program Questions

Questions about the Regenerate NY program should be directed to:

Regenerate NY
NYSDEC, Lands and Forests
[email protected]
(518) 402-9264