Wildfires don’t stop at the boundaries of national forests, so neither should our fuel breaks. That is why I announced a ground-breaking memorandum of understanding with the National Alliance of Forest Owners today. Working together, we will improve coordination on cross-boundary fuel breaks.

Worsening conditions are making wildfire risk to natural resources and the communities that depend on them more urgent. Congress recently provided considerable federal resources to complete time-consuming and expensive treatments that must be coordinated across federal and private ownership. This MOU allows us to work with partners to mitigate the risk of wildfires impacting homes, communities, natural and cultural resources, and critical infrastructure.

It provides the framework for Forest Service regions and forests and NAFO member companies to plan, construct and maintain cross-boundary fuel breaks using NAFO member company resources and expertise. After we jointly identify opportunities for locating cross-boundary fuel breaks, the Forest Service will do necessary planning and NEPA work while taking full advantage of available tools and authorities to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our fire prevention work.

Last year, I signed a separate MOU with NAFO to help increase our capabilities to fight wildfires during initial attack in areas of adjacent ownership with National Forest System lands. This partnership has given line officers and incident commanders more personnel, equipment and tools for managing wildfires safely. It also provides them with local knowledge and experience to better identify and evaluate risks and protect communities and resources.

We now have many examples showing that coordination between NAFO members and the Forest Service allows us to stop fires on initial attack before they can get out of control. These successes give us a template to use in the future. Adding the ability to proactively coordinate on fuel breaks in advance of wildfires will make this partnership even stronger.

Partnerships like these serve as indicators of our commitment to sustainable forestland management and the protection of communities, critical infrastructure, and resources for present and future generations. This MOU and similar tools allow us to achieve the goals outlined in our “Wildfire Crisis Strategy.” I look forward to working with partners like NAFO to confront our nation’s wildfire crisis.

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