USDA Announces Investment in New Projects to Expand Work on Wildfire Crisis Strategy

On September 10, 2024, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the Administration is investing $100 million in twenty-one 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 fourteen (14) states and eighteen (18) national forests and are part of the $3.2 billion investment in this comprehensive strategy made possible through the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. In California, projects in three national forests were selected to receive funding, each of which span several RCRC member counties: 

• $5,000,000 awarded to Breckenridge Community and Communication Site Fuels Reduction, Sequoia National Forest. 

• $5,000,000 awarded to Hazardous Fuels Reduction, Strategic Fuel Breaks, and Prescribed Fire for Wildfire Resiliency on the Georgetown Divide, El Dorado National Forest. 

• $5,000,000 awarded to Tahoe National Forest Resilient Communities and Partner Capacity Building, Tahoe National Forest. 

A full list of projects can be found here.