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Confronting the Wildfire Crisis
ENFRENTÁNDONOS A LA CRISIS DE LOS INCENDIOS FORESTALES
What's New?
The Forest Service has launched a robust, 10-year strategy to squarely address this wildfire crisis in the places where it poses the most immediate threats to communities. The strategy, called “Confronting the Wildfire Crisis: A Strategy for Protecting Communities and Improving Resilience in America’s Forests,” combines a historic investment of congressional funding with years of scientific research and planning into a national effort that will dramatically increase the scale of forest health treatments over the next decade.
Though the Forest Service has been working to manage the health of millions of acres of national forests across the American West for decades, the scale and methods of work on the ground have not matched the need. With the support of our partners, states, Tribes and local communities, the Forest Service is collaboratively implementing this new strategy across jurisdictions and landownerships to protect communities, critical infrastructure, watersheds, habitats, and recreational areas.
Overgrown forests, a warming climate, and a growing number of homes in the wildland-urban interface, following more than a century of rigorous fire suppression, have all contributed to what is now a full-blown wildfire and forest health crisis.
The Forest Service will work with partners to focus fuels and forest health treatments more strategically and at the scale of the problem, using the best available science as a guide. The plan calls for the agency to treat up to an additional 20 million acres on National Forest System lands, and up to an additional 30 million acres of other Federal, State, Tribal, and private lands.
Meet the Faces of the Wildfire Crisis Strategy
Wildfire Crisis Strategy Roundtables
A wildfire does not know boundaries, it does not stop when it reaches the border of a national forest, private land, or city limit. Working with federal agencies, communities, and individual landowners will be essential to creating fire resilient forests on a national scale.
To assist in developing the implementation plan, the Forest Service with the National Forest Foundation is convening virtual roundtable events in the nine Forest Service regions, as well as nationally, to engage employees and partners. The roundtables will commence in February 2022 and conclude May 2022.
The goals of these roundtables are to:
- Share information, goals, and timelines for the 10-Year Strategic Implementation Plan;
- Collect partner and employee input to inform the Plan;
- Provide an opportunity for dialogue among Forest Service leaders and partners to identify key needs and opportunities of the plan; and
- Gauge on-going levels of interest and determine ways to leverage that interest and energy.
Visit the National Forest Foundation website to learn more and how to get involved.
View the full strategy for more information
- Confronting the Wildfire Crisis: A New Strategy for Protecting Communities and Improving Resilience in America’s Forests
- Secretary Vilsack Announces New 10 Year Strategy to Confront the Wildfire Crisis
- Implementation plan
- Joint USDA Forest Service/Department of the Interior Wildfire Crisis letter
- Press Kit
From the Chief's Desk
Recent News
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USDA Forest Service Launches Interactive Map Showcasing Wildfire Reduction Projects
Recent Stories
Pacific NW Regional Forester Glenn Casamassa and Representative Kim Schrier visited the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in August 2022 for a roundtable discussion about the Central Washington Initiative and Wildfire Crisis Strategy. Partner organizations, representatives from industry, and local community leaders came together to have a robust conversation around the need to increase the pace of forest restoration and how we can come together to accomplish this work.
A smaller group consisting mostly of agency partners and North Central Washington Forest Health Collaborative (NCWFHC) members joined the field portion of the event. There was great discussion in the field about the obstacles to scaling up forest restoration work, including availability of contractors, limited burn windows, smoke permitting, etc.
