Windbreak Renovation Initiative

Thanks to funding by the Outdoor Heritage Fund, the North Dakota Forest Service (NDFS) Windbreak Renovation Initiative (WRI) offers technical and financial assistance to private windbreak owners statewide to restore, protect and enhance their deteriorating windbreaks. Many of North Dakota’s important forest resources are in need of maintenance, but not all of them are eligible for WRI. Many tree plantings block the wind and yet are still not windbreaks. For WRI, we define a windbreak as a system of multiple rows of trees and shrubs primarily designed and engineered to modify the flow of wind.

Windbreak Renovation Grant

Every windbreak is unique and every windbreak renovation is, too. NDFS believes a solid plan is the key to any successful project.

WRI grants are heavily “front-loaded” meaning that a lot of technical planning requiring many hours of time is necessary before a grant application will be accepted. We work with landowners on a first-come first-served basis and strive to meet all requests in a timely manner – kindness, consideration and patience are appreciated.

To begin, please click on this link to navigate to our Windbreak Renovation Initiative webpage. Once there, click on the big red button that says “Request Technical Assistance”. This will take you to a survey where you provide us all of the information needed to start the process.

The Outdoor Heritage Fund and US Forest Service are program partners.