RB, my property is 53 acres so I see I need to buy 2 more acres just to be ahead of you LOL. One thing I cant stress enough is to have a complete management plan for your property. Having this helps you in the ranking process when it comes to dishing out the money. The ranking process is what they use to put the property's in line to see who gets what funding, property that ranks higher have a better chance to receive funding.
This is the process I used
1. Have your service forester look over your property and come up with a plan
2. Contact the PA Game Comm. and have there landowner assistance biologist come out and evaluate you land and also give you a plan
3. Actually start some of the cutting and etc. that is recommended in your palns to show you are willing to do what is needed
4. Contact the Whip program to apply for funding for any improvements you would like to do.
It takes a while for this process to get going but it will pay off in the end. Not many people get actual funding but alot of people apply. The more you ducks are in a row the better off you are.
From what I recall, only 6 people received funding this year in a 6 county area and I was lucky to be one of them.
I received the info on the WHIP program from the Pa Game Comm Biologist, these guys are a wealth of knowledge and really help you out