UNITED STATES — On Tuesday, Sept. 10, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced that the Biden-Harris Administration is investing $100 million to confront the national wildfire crisis.
The funding will initiate 21 new projects within the U.S. Forest Service’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy, which was implemented in 2022 to reduce the threat of wildfire in high-risk areas across the country. When President Biden passed the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law on August 16, 2022, $3.2 billion was invested in the Wildfire Crisis Strategy. This investment has made it possible for the Forest Service to allocate and distribute $100 million to new wildfire mitigation projects. The Collaborative Wildfire Risk Reduction Program receives funding from the Wildfire Crisis Strategy and then awards state projects through an internal, competitive application process.
According to the USDA, newly funded projects will span 14 states, 18 national forests and extend work in areas where wildfires pose the most immediate threats to communities, critical infrastructure and natural resources. The work will increase on-the-ground forest restoration work, including mechanical thinning and prescribed fire, on more than 1.5 million acres across the 21 Wildfire Crisis Strategy priority landscapes.
Wyoming was awarded $5,000,000 to restore forest health in the northern Snowy Range of the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests, west of Laramie. Work efforts will include targeted hazardous fuels reduction — such as mechanical thinning, mastication and pile burning — in areas connected to national forests, State and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands. Additionally, firewood will be supplied to the Northern Arapaho Tribe through the Wood For Life partnership, according the Forest Service.
“The challenging wildfires of this year have underscored the urgent need to continue to protect our communities and infrastructure by restoring forest health across the country,” Secretary Vilsack said via press release. “We have already made incredible progress, but there is still much to be done. Today’s investment represents an important expansion of our Wildfire Crisis Strategy work to new areas and states.”
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