ENVIRONMENT

Wildland Fire Management

Department & Agency:

Department of Agriculture

Administering Agency:

Forest Service

Agency Contact:

Dave Dillard
Forest Service Economic Recovery Executive
(202) 205-1278

Stimulus Funding:

$500 million

Eligibility and Type:

Tribes and Alaska Native corporations, as well as state agricultural and forestry agencies and others

Project grants

Program Description:

The focus of Forest Service’s hazardous fuels reduction program is to support projects that will help protect communities from large, unnaturally severe fires and contribute to the restoration of fire-adapted ecosystems. The stimulus funding will also help create incentives to utilize biomass generated from fuels reduction projects for renewable energy production.

Funding Notices:

On May 14, the Forest Service published a list of projects funded under the Recovery Act. The list is available at:

http://www.fs.fed.us/arra/arra-releasedfsprojects-2009-5-14.pdf

Among the tribal projects that will receive Recovery Act funding through the Forest Service for wildland fire management projects are the following:

• the White Mountain Apache for a Tribal Forest Protection Act project, nursery development for post-fire rehabilitation, and hazardous fuels reduction;
• the White Mountain Apache Tribe and the Navajo Nation for Rodeo-Chedeski reforestation site preparation;
• the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe wildland fire management;
• the Mescalero Tribe and other partners in the 16 Springs Tribal Forest Protection Act Stewardship Project;
• the three Pueblos Forest Hazardous Fuels Reduction/Restoration Project;
• Oregon tribal forest improvement crews for hazardous fuels treatment; and
• forest health on the Spokane Indian Reservation.

In other instances, tribes are partnering with state and local forest agencies on wildland fire projects.

General Provisions:

Bill language of Title VII of the Act, the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies appropriations section,provides that of the $500 million appropriated to the Forest Service for wildland fire management, $250 million is for hazardous fuels reduction, forest health protection, rehabilitation and hazard mitigation activities on federal lands, and $250 million is for state and private forestry activities including hazardous fuels reduction, forest health and ecosystem improvement activities. Bill language also states that funds provided for activities on state and private lands shall not be subject to matching or cost share requirements.

Further Information:

For more information, see http://fs.usda.gov/recovery