Community Wildfire Defense Grants protect communities [VIDEO]
On Monday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the investment of $197 million to plan for and reduce wildfire risks in communities across the nation. The announcement was part of a press call with Vice President Harris, White House Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu and Secretary Vilsack. We worked alongside state forestry agencies and tribal representatives to select 100 grant proposals from communities affected or threatened by wildfires in the initial round of funding under the new Community Wildfire Defense Grants program.
Wildfires don’t recognize boundaries, which is why we must work together by investing in tribal, state and private lands to protect communities, infrastructure and the natural resources we all treasure. From designing the grant program to selecting proposals, the program has been a collaborative process with tribes, state forestry agencies and key partners.
The Community Wildfire Defense Grant program directly supports our work to implement the agency’s wildfire crisis strategy. These investments across tribal, state and privately managed lands ensure we are working at the right scale and across boundaries to reduce the risks wildfires pose to communities. These grants will help communities in the wildland urban interface implement the three goals of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy: restore and maintain resilient landscapes, create fire adapted communities and improve wildfire response.
There remains a high demand for community wildfire risk reduction, both in terms of projects as well as the amount of funding requested, and this was a very competitive program. We received 417 grant requests from several tribes, 36 different states and one U.S. territory. We used the priorities and statutory guidelines in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to identify communities in greatest need. Ultimately, we identified 100 project proposals benefiting seven tribes and 22 different states; specifically, we focused on low-income communities.
This initial round of investments is a critical down payment to protect at-risk communities by helping them develop community wildfire protection plans, as well as funding immediate actions to lower the risk of wildfire on non-federal lands where such plans already exist. This first round of funding provided valuable lessons learned and insight about how best to outreach to low-income and at-risk communities in the future. We intend to announce another round of funding later this year.
We cannot do this work alone. We must see opportunity and use every tool and authority we have available. We need to share leadership, build community and invest in relationships with tribes, partners and colleagues. Funding the first round of Community Wildfire Defense Grants is an action that exemplifies the “all lands, all hands” approach we know we need to take to be successful.
I am proud of this investment and the work you all do to support these efforts. I look forward to seeing the impact this work will have on reducing risks to communities, infrastructure and natural resources from the threat of wildfires.
Additional resources
Community Wildfire Defense Grants toolkit (internal link)
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