Gov. Tate Reeves has signed a shared stewardship agreement to strengthen Mississippi’s forests.
Headed by the Mississippi Forestry Commission (MFC), the Shared Stewardship Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) brings together the State of Mississippi with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
The MOU will allow for state and federal agencies to coordinate forest management, align resources, and support locally driven priorities across the Magnolia State. By working across the ownership boundaries between the three agencies, Mississippi’s forests will be made more resilient while also strengthening the surrounding rural economies to ensure long-term sustainability of forest resources.
“Mississippi’s forestry industry is one of the pillars of our state’s economy, and protecting it requires strong partnerships,” Reeves said. “This agreement allows state and federal agencies to work more efficiently across ownership boundaries to improve forest health, reduce wildfire risk, support private landowners, and strengthen Mississippi’s timber economy.”
Through this understanding, the USDA Forest Service will work with Mississippi to expand active forest management through prescribed fire, invasive species control, wildlife habitat improvement, forest product market development, Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) projects, wildfire risk reduction, and coordinated planning for natural disasters, research, and cultural resource protection.
As highlighted by Reeves, the forestry industry in Mississippi is a major economic driver that supports over 84,000 jobs statewide and contributes to the economy. By aligning federal investments with state priorities, the agreement will safeguard timber supplies from wildfire and pest threats, address market barriers, and use updated legislative authority to accelerate landscape recovery.
“This agreement strengthens forest management across ownership boundaries and benefits everyone involved,” Mississippi State Forester Russell Bozeman said. “By improving the health and resilience of national forest lands, the Mississippi Forestry Commission can better work to reduce wildfire risk, mitigate forest health threats such as the southern pine beetle, and support more productive forests for neighboring private landowners and surrounding communities.”
Mississippi is now one of a growing number of states — including Montana, Idaho, South Dakota, and Georgia — to adopt Shared Stewardship agreements to strengthen partnerships and forest management to increase the resilience of the forests and the areas that depend on them.