NRCS is accepting applications until March 7 for conservation assistance from northcentral forest landowners.

Organizers said the Pennsylvania U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service is accepting applications from northcentral Pennsylvania forest landowners for financial assistance to apply conservation practices that enhance forest ecosystems.

As announced in a December 2016 news release, Pennsylvania NRCS is providing $350,000 to the project, entitled “Sustaining Pennsylvania’s Oak Ecosystems through Partnership in Forest Management” to improve and protect the health and resiliency of oak ecosystems.

The unique public-private lands project, selected for the Joint Chief’s Landscape Restoration Partnership, includes an area that spans 15 counties across the predominantly forested northern tier of Pennsylvania, including Bradford, Cameron, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Elk, Forest, Jefferson, Lycoming, McKean, Potter, Sullivan, Tioga, Warren, and Wyoming.

The entire area canvasses 4.6 million acres of watersheds with greatly reduced brook trout populations and feed into the Ohio River and Chesapeake Bay watersheds.