Welcome to the ARRA webpage for the White Mountain Apache Tribe
In the fall of 2009, the White Mountain Apache Tribe’s (WMAT) was awarded approximately $7.6 million dollars from the U.S. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 stimulus funding through the USDA, Forest Service Southwestern Region.
The WMAT TFPA project evolved from what is now known as the “Tribal Protection Forest Protection Act of 2004” legislation which authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to enter into agreements or contracts with Indian tribes that meet certain criteria to carry out projects to protect Indian forest land.
The WMAT received $4,487,000 for its Hazard Fuels / Restoration Project, which is the largest of the three ARRA Projects and was started on October 26, 2009.
Up until December of 2009, when a propane explosion at the McNary Greenhouse caused considerable damage to the existing nursery structures, the WMAT had access to seedlings, as well as riparian and watershed plants to contribute to their reforestation and watershed restoration needs. Therefore on October 22, 2009, the WMAT received $2,243,000.00 to reconstruct a Native Plant Nursery from the U.S. Forest Service.