The Guilford County Board of Commissioners is expected to approve a new contract on Thursday, Sept. 4, with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services – that will spiff up the county’s forest land and keep it from catching fire.
The agreement covers everything from wildfire suppression to prescribed burns, hazard tree assessments, and landowner management plans.
It’s also meant to ensure that Guilford County continues to have a fully staffed forestry office in the Ag Building – the Cooperative Extension Building at 3309 Burlington Road in Greensboro.
The agreement calls for $297,522 in total funding for fiscal year 2025–2026, with the state covering 60 percent of the cost, or $178,514, and Guilford County paying the other 40 percent, which comes to $119,008.
The county’s share has already been accounted for in this year’s fiscal budget that the Board of Commissioners adopted in June. That cost represents a pretty big increase from recent years. In fiscal year 2023–2024, the combined state–county appropriation was $249,000, while in fiscal year 2024–2025 it dropped to $215,777.
This new agreement – for fiscal 2025–2026 – is almost 40 percent higher than last year. Part of that jump in price comes from the cost of replacing a frontline fire truck that’s logged more than 100,000 miles.
Under the agreement, the state provides a county ranger to control and investigate forest fires, enforce state fire laws and oversee reforestation and management practices.
An assistant ranger will share those responsibilities, and additional staff, equipment and materials are included in the deal to keep the county’s forestry office running. The state is also contracted to provide public education programs, insect and disease protection efforts, and it offers support for landowners who want to maintain or improve their property’s forest health.
Some of the program’s work is already evident this summer. The forestry office prepared two management plans for landowners seeking forestry deferment, assisted multiple fire departments with youth fire-safety camps in July and August, and scheduled timber exams for tax deferment purposes. (In other words, the forestry service scheduled site visits to help landowners keep their land in the state’s tax deferment program, a program that lowers their property taxes as long as the land continues to be managed for timber.)
Other work is ongoing, including suppressing grass, brush and woods fires, handling landowner requests, and preparing for a prescribed burn program that resumes later this fall.
Forestry staff also assist Guilford County Parks and Recreation with hazard tree assessments, chainsaw training and fire management.
While county leaders are preparing to renew this forestry agreement, it comes against a backdrop of rapid development in the county with a whole lot more development to come over the next decade. Guilford County has been experiencing strong growth and a heavy demand for new housing. That push is eating into the rural landscape at a steady pace. As development expands, the county’s wooded areas are shrinking, and the forestry program has to balance the need to protect and enhance what’s left while also adapting to more urban forestry requests.
The contract between the state and the county is nothing new. The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has historically entered into an annual agreement with Guilford County to provide forestry protection and management through the years. The current contract under consideration will run through June 30, 2026, continuing that long-standing cooperative relationship.
Lol, Guilford County will protect the forest….they are protecting the tax dollars to be gained to build all the houses that are said to be needed. Skip and company don’t give a rip about any forest.
The previous comments are absolutely correct. Until the county’s developmental regulations mandate and enforce tree and forest protection property owners are the only true woodland protectors which is the situation now.
. . . except for the property owners who ‘sold out’ & now live in in gated communities elsewhere ?
Scott, thank you for your last two paragraphs. I laughed at the headline, given the county’s current goals regarding housing and business development. I doubt I’d want to invite the State, County, or Federal government to help manage my land at this point. All seem intent on destroying private ownership or control of our land.
But thanks for the info.
“Only YOU can prevent forest fires.”
notice that smokey the bear wears a hard hat ? an OSHA requirement ? birds drop rocks on his head ?
smokeys’ bulldozer is just visible in the background behind the rabbit.
Any good forest firefighter knows to wear a hard hat to protect himself from falling trees and have a bulldozer for creating fire breaks. Smokey is a good forest firefighter. Always has been, always will be.