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Wildfire Crisis Strategy Landscapes

A map of the United States of America showing the high-risk firesheds and the 21 Wildfire Crisis Strategy landscapes outlined in black.
A map of high-risk firesheds and the 21 Wildfire Crisis Strategy landscapes outlined in black. (USDA Forest Service graphic)

In January 2022, the Forest Service launched the Wildfire Crisis Strategy. This strategy aims to create safer and more fire-resilient landscapes and communities, reduce wildfire risk to critical infrastructure, protect sources of drinking water and natural resources, and foster strong collaboration across all lands. The science-based roadmap calls for increasing the pace and scale of wildfire risk reduction efforts in the areas that are most at risk.

Between 2022 and 2023, we established 21 landscapes across the West to focus initial wildfire risk reduction efforts as part of the Wildfire Crisis Strategy. Ten landscapes were initially established in 2022 following the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, while an additional 11 were established in 2023 following the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Each landscape contains one or more high-risk firesheds and is a mixture of land ownerships. The communities, critical infrastructure, and natural resources within these 21 landscapes represent some of those at highest risk of catastrophic wildfire.

How Landscapes Were Selected

Wildfire risk exists at varying levels across the nation. A core component of the Wildfire Crisis Strategy is to reduce wildfire risk by treating the right acres in the right places to make the biggest impact possible.

These landscapes were selected after carefully considering a multitude of factors, including but not limited to the presence of National Forest System lands, wildfire risk levels, proximity to communities, critical infrastructure, public water sources, and more. Because these landscapes contain highly valued assets that are at such great risk, efforts to restore forest health in these landscapes will have an outsized positive impact to Americans and our environment.

To help reduce wildfire risk and improve local economies and communities, the Forest Service has also invested in every state and Puerto Rico. Funding is from different appropriations, including, but not limited to, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Inflation Reduction Act, Great American Outdoor Act, disaster supplemental appropriations, and regular appropriations.

Reducing Wildfire Risk in the Landscapes

The Wildfire Crisis Strategy calls for restoring the health of fire-adapted forests to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire to communities, sources of drinking water, critical infrastructure, and natural resources. It also calls for creating long-term maintenance plans to keep these forests healthy and resilient into the future after we initially reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire.

A sequence of photos from the same forest stand over time. The top left photo shows a dense, untreated forest. The top right photo shows the same stand after thinning, in which some trees were removed. The bottom left shows the thinned stand after a prescribed burn, which further reduces vegetation and removes built up material on the forest floor. The bottom right photo shows the stand after a wildfire burned through the treated area.
A sequence of photos from the same forest stand over time. The top left photo shows a dense, untreated forest. The top right photo shows the same stand after thinning, in which some trees were removed. The bottom left shows the thinned stand after a prescribed burn, which further reduces vegetation and removes built up material on the forest floor. The bottom right photo shows the stand after a wildfire burned through the treated area. Notice how the wildfire only burned portions of the understory, leaving the overstory trees alive. (Photos by John F. Marshall LLC.)

To achieve this vision, we are increasing the pace and scale of prescribed fire and vegetation thinning within Wildfire Crisis Strategy landscapes. These forest management tools help reduce the amount of overgrown vegetation in forests that can fuel more intense wildfires. We are also investing in promoting community resilience and post-fire recovery. Using the down payments Congress made through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and Inflation Reduction Act, we are focusing our efforts on strategic areas. If more resources become available, we will treat new areas and implement maintenance treatments in other areas.

We are working closely with our partners in each landscape to help implement this important work. Partners are critical in increasing capacity, working across all lands, and fostering innovative approaches. Our partners include a variety of entities, including state, county, and local governments; tribal nations; non-governmental organizations; industries, and more.

An aerial view of a forest landscape showing an area with ground fuels removed and trees spaced out more than the trees surrounding it.
An area within the Central Washington Initiative Landscape that has been treated to reduce fuels. Notice the widely-spaced trees in the center-left portion of the photo compared to the dense, untreated areas around it. (Photo by Tom Frantz, Washington Department of Natural Resources)

As of December 2024, we have invested $1.73 billion through a combination of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and Inflation Reduction Act funds in wildfire risk reduction work on the Wildfire Crisis landscapes. This is in addition to regular appropriations the national forests within the landscapes receive. As of December 2024, over 1.9 million acres have been treated across the 21 landscapes since their establishment.

Measuring Outcomes of Our Work

A highway sign when entering the town of Wrightwood, with a plywood sheet nailed to the bottom with "THANK YOU FOR SAVING US" written with black spray paint.
A thank you to firefighters posted just outside the community of Wrightwood, California. Wrightwood is located within the Southern California Fireshed Risk Reduction Strategy Landscape. In 2024, the Bridge Fire encircled the community but was stopped largely due to previous fuel reduction and fire mitigation work around the town. (USDA Forest Service photo by Veronica Verdin)

Thanks to this work, the communities, critical infrastructure, and natural resources that Americans rely upon are becoming safer. In addition to treating over 1.9 million acres since the Wildfire Crisis Strategy was announced, we are focused on ensuring this work is being done in locations and ways that will make a difference. We estimate the value of housing and critical infrastructure within and adjacent to Wildfire Crisis Strategy landscapes at $700 billion dollars. The Forest Service and our partners are leveraging investments to reduce the risk of damage by wildfire to homes, infrastructure, and sources of drinking water; and to provide other ecological benefits.

Using outcome-based performance metrics, Forest Service researchers estimate that between 2021 and 2023 our work within the 21 landscapes helped result in:

  • leveraging a $1.2 billion investment to reduce wildfire risk to $700 billion worth of housing and critical infrastructure,

  • a 7.8% average reduction in wildfire risk to residential housing,

  • an 8.2% average reduction in wildfire risk to critical infrastructure (high-voltage transmission lines and communication sites),

  • an 11.8% reduction in wildfire risk to watersheds that supply drinking water, and

  • avoiding approximately $37 million in residential property losses in fiscal year 2023.

In 2024, Forest Service researchers are expanding the outcome-based performance metrics analyses to consider other benefits of our work on Wildfire Crisis Strategy landscapes. Performance metrics are currently being calculated and will again provide estimates of the benefits of our work in the landscapes that occurred during the 2024 fiscal year. This new data will be available during the first half of 2025.

Outcome-Based Performance Metrics

We track our work through a variety of metrics. Many of these metrics track outputs, such as how many acres we removed hazardous fuels from. Tracking outputs is important, but outputs don’t necessarily capture information about values that are important to the American public like—the positive impacts to communities, infrastructure, drinking water and natural resources associated with reducing the risk of damaging wildfire.

Outcome-based performance metrics are a way to measure the outcomes—or benefits—of our work. This allows us to better ensure we are working in the right places in the right way to achieve the greatest good. It also allows us to communicate the value of our work to the American people by showing them how their tax dollars are translating to benefits.

Outcome-based performance metrics measure the change before and after treatments (like prescribed fire or thinning) and over time. Forest Service researchers are quantifying the outcomes of work in the Wildfire Crisis Strategy landscapes using sophisticated models to understand risk reduction, social and economic benefits, and ecosystem resilience. These metrics provide ways to understand how projects on the ground are affecting wildfire risk and landscape conditions and account for changes caused by wildfire and other natural disturbances.

Additional Resources