According to a report from Black Hills Pioneer, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the $1 billion Community Wildfire Defense Grant Program (CWDGP) during his keynote speech at Tuesday’s Western Governors’ Association’s 2022 annual meeting in Couer d’Alene, Idaho.
The CWDGP will directly aid communities vulnerable to wildfires by creating more robust protection plans and resilient landscapes as well as improve infrastructure.
The CWDGP will receive $200 million annually from President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Communities selected for the grant will receive up to $10.25 million.
The grant will prioritize communities that are at high risk for wildfires and which are low income or have been affected by a severe disasters.
The CWDG will implement the three goals of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy, which follow:
- Restore and Maintain Landscapes. Landscapes across all jurisdictions are resilient to fire-related disturbances, in accordance with management objectives.
- Create Fire Adapted Communities. Human populations and infrastructure can withstand a wildfire without loss of life and property.
- Improve Wildfire Response. All jurisdictions participate in making and implementing safe, effective, efficient risk-based wildfire management decisions.
The CWDGP’s goals can be disseminated into a few areas. To create resilient landscapes, prescribed burns and fuel treatments make the land the first line of defense when wildfires erupt.
The idea of fire-adapted communities is focuses on protecting homes by altering construction codes, using fire-resistant building materials, and reducing the amount of human-caused fires through education and law enforcement.
To improve a community’s wildfire response capabilities, prepare for long-duration wildfires and preplan to respond efficiently in accordance to an agency’s resources.