2026 Community Forest Conservation Grant Program, Round 4 is an applicant-facing competitive financial assistance program of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Environmental Protection Fund. The 2026 solicitation is NYS Statewide Financial System (SFS) Grants Management Bid Event CFCR4. It helps New York municipalities acquire private forested land through fee title or conservation easements to establish or expand publicly accessible community forests. This is a grant for municipal land conservation, not a purchase of services from commercial vendors.
Individual applicant award: $50,000 to $500,000 per eligible municipality. Approximately $1,500,000 is available across the entire Round 4 program, not per applicant. No matching funds are required. A municipality may submit one application and receive no more than one award in this round. DEC competitively scores complete eligible applications, and a qualifying score of at least 65 of 100 points is required for award consideration.
Eligibility and geography: Applicants must be New York State municipalities. The proposed land must be privately owned, within New York State, at least 10 contiguous acres and at least 75 percent forested, with an identified willing seller and a plan for public access. Lands already under public or municipal ownership are not eligible. Existing leases, easements, mineral rights, or encumbrances can restrict eligibility, so the property-specific conditions in the official RFA must be reviewed carefully.
Application deadline: Wednesday, December 16, 2026, at 3:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, through the NYS SFS Grants Management Vendor Portal. The DEC webinar is October 21, 2026 at 10:00 AM, and the RFA question period ends December 10, 2026 at 3:00 PM. Applicants must register and complete required SFS prequalification before submission, and the portal requires authorized roles to initiate and submit the application. Paper submissions and late applications are not accepted.
Application prerequisites: Required documentation includes a project-area map, current owner deed, current school and local property-tax bills, a certified general appraiser’s estimate of market value, municipal resolution, signed landowner agreement letter (a purchase contract does not substitute for this letter), and required state certifications. The SFS application includes a performance-based financial worksheet and project/work plan. Applicants should inspect the RFA Appendix F submission checklist and applicable SFS event forms. A full appraisal, boundary survey, title review, environmental assessment and conservation-management plan become important at later grant-contract stages.
Eligible costs and restrictions: Grant funds support approved acquisition of fee title or a conservation easement and related appraisal, survey, recording, legal, title, environmental and forest-management planning expenses under the RFA. Non-forest-related approved costs are subject to an aggregate 10 percent cap. The grant uses performance-based staged upfront payments tied to contract execution and DEC approval of deliverables, not a conventional reimbursement-only structure. Prior acquisition or pre-contract expenses, general operating support, grant-administration overhead, travel, real-estate commissions, property taxes, unrelated construction and other prohibited costs are ineligible. A four-year grant-contract term applies, with public opening expected within approximately 24 months of closing.
Official documents: NYSDEC Round 4 program and application page and controlling 64-page 2026 Round 4 Request for Applications. Applicants must review the full RFA, its appendices, and any subsequently posted state clarifications before applying. Research verified October 18, 2026.