Colorado and seven other western states will get $131 million to initiate a 10-year strategy to manage and mitigate the risks of wildland fires, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced recently.
USDA Secretary Tom VIlsack made the announcement April 11, as part of the Rural Infrastructure Tour, the USDA announced at the time. The funding, part of President Joseph R. Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will go to Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, according to the announcement. The states will use the funding to begin work on the USDA Forest Service’s 10-year wildfire strategy "Confronting the Wildfire Crisis: A Strategy for Protecting Communities and Improving Resilience in America’s Forests."
“Thanks to the investments made in President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, USDA is taking the next step in reducing wildfire risk," Secretary Vilsack said in the announcement, "especially in western states where communities, infrastructure and resources are at the most risk."
Sec. Vilsack spoke virtually at the Joint Operational Wildfire Briefing, an annual meeting with state and federal officials and wildland fire management agencies to go over wildland-fire preparedness and response, USDA reports in the announcement. Earlier that day, USDA Forest Service Chief Randy Moore, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and others went to Heil Valley Ranch in Lyons, Colo., to promote the investments, USDA reports.
The Forest Service and its partners have identified the highest-risk landscapes for risk-reduction treatment projects, the USDA reports, and it found nearly 80 percent of wildfire risks occurs in less than 10 percent of areas where wildfire would threaten communities and resources, according to the report.
“These efforts to reduce wildfire risk to communities located in these landscapes are just the beginning,” said Forest Service Chief Randy Moore. “The first-year investments are a part of a 10-year strategy to reduce the exposure of communities and infrastructure to the risk of catastrophic wildfire. With each successive year we will plan and implement more, continuing to reduce the risks associated with extreme wildfire for communities in these vulnerable areas.”
Under the plan, $18 million will be provided to treat up to 10,000 acres of national forests in Colorado including the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and the Pike-San Isabel National Forests. The report states the national forests are significant sources of water for the Colorado Front Range, and therefore a "critical landscape" for wildfire mitigation.
“The people of Colorado need no reminding of the dire threat wildfire presents to states across the West," Vilsack said in the announcement. "In 2020, Coloradans saw three of their largest fires on record. With the investments we’re announcing today, USDA will do its part to make your communities safer and our forests more resilient to our changing climate.”
The Forest Service's 10-year wildfire strategy calls for treating up to 20 million acres of national forests and grasslands and up to 30 million acres of other federal, state, Tribal, private and family lands.
Interior Secretary Haaland said that climate change is continuing to worsen the dangers of extreme heat, drought and wildfire, and is" creating wildfires that move with a speed and intensity previously unseen,” the USDA reports. Haaland said the DOI will use the BIL funding to study the impacts of climate change on wildland fires to better protect communities and resources.
“With so little room for error, we must remain steadfast in our commitment to wildland fire preparedness, mitigation and resilience,” Sec. Haaland said.
