Dear Colleagues,
The USDA Forest Service is soliciting proposals that will help assist at-risk local communities and Indian Tribes with planning for and mitigating against the risk created by wildfire. There are two primary project types for which the grant provides funding: The development and revising of Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP), and the implementation of projects described in a CWPP that is less than ten years old. The Act prioritizes at-risk communities that are in an area identified as having high or very high wildfire hazard potential, are low-income, and/or have been impacted by a severe disaster.
The CWDG helps communities in the wildland urban interface (WUI) implement the three goals of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (Cohesive Strategy):
• Resilient Landscapes: Landscapes, regardless of jurisdictional boundaries, are resilient to fire, insect, disease, invasive species, and climate change disturbances, in accordance with management objectives.
• Fire Adapted Communities: Human populations and infrastructure are as prepared as possible to receive, respond to, and recover from wildland fire.
• Safe, Effective, Risk-based Wildfire Response: All jurisdictions participate in making and implementing safe, effective, efficient risk-based wildfire management decisions.
USDA Forest Service - Community Wildfire Defense Grant - West
The complete application requirements are available at the following link: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=349612 and https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/fire/grants
Applications due: October 31, 2023 at 11:59pm ET
Maximum amount per any one community or Tribe:
- $250,000 for the creation or updating of a Community Wildfire Protection Plan
- $10 million for a project described within a Community Wildfire Protection Plan less than 10 years old.
Required Match: 10% to develop or update a CWPP or 25% for implementation projects
Project duration: up to 5 years
Eligibility: Per FAQs, Institutions of higher education are eligible to apply if the institution is applying in conjunction with, or with the support of, a specific at risk community.
Thank you.
Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)