WASHINGTON — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the Biden-Harris Administration is investing $100 million in 21 new projects to expand work on the USDA Forest Service’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy to reduce the threat of wildfire in high-risk areas across the country.
The new projects span 14 states and 18 national forests and are part of the $3.2 billion investment in this comprehensive strategy made possible through President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
“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,” said Secretary Vilsack. “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.”
The Collaborative Wildfire Risk Reduction Program uses hazardous fuels funds from the Inflation Reduction Act to treat additional areas of high wildfire risk where national forests and grasslands meet homes and communities, known as the Wildland-Urban Interface. The program allows national forests, in collaboration with Tribes, communities and partners in qualifying states to build local capacity for projects to reduce wildfire risk and improve forest health.
“There are 24 states that meet the criteria for this program, including 13 states in the South, Midwest and East, said Forest Service Chief Randy Moore. “The internal competitive process and collaborative design of these projects allows National Forests and partners to demonstrate their ability to move forward quickly on wildfire risk reduction actions to protect lives and livelihoods across vast, shared landscapes.”