TUCSON, Ariz. — Acting Deputy Secretary of the Interior Laura Daniel-Davis announced $236 million in funding allocations from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to support wildland fire management into fiscal year 2025 across the nation. The funding aims to reduce wildfire risk, enhance firefighter training, rehabilitate burned areas in collaboration with partners, and advance wildfire science. This announcement brings the total allocation for wildland fire management from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to nearly $1.1 billion since its implementation in fiscal year 2022.

The announcement was made at Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Arizona, with Mayor Regina Romero and Arizona State Forester and Director Thomas Torres present. Arizona is set to receive over $10 million from this latest allocation, bringing its total funding for wildfire mitigation and recovery through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to more than $60 million.

“Since the enactment of the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Interior Department has worked quickly to get money out the door and in the hands of states, Tribes and local communities to help combat the ever-growing threat of the climate crisis,” said Acting Deputy Secretary Daniel-Davis. “Communities in the West in particular understand this threat – with increasing temperatures and more severe fires – and the Biden-Harris administration is taking action by investing in comprehensive wildland fire management that is creating more climate-resilient lands across the nation.”

Nearly $176 million from today’s announcement will be dedicated to reducing extreme wildfire risks by expanding capacity and accelerating fuels management projects. These projects aim to reduce excessive vegetation that can fuel wildfires through methods such as mechanical vegetation removal and chemical treatments of invasive species. Beneficial fire practices like prescribed fires and cultural burning will also be employed. Some funds will expand the National Interagency Prescribed Fire Training Center, providing interagency wildland fire workforce access to prescribed fire training.

Approximately $56 million will be allocated for restoring landscapes damaged by recent wildfires. Over $20 million will develop locally adapted seeds and plant materials for revegetating severely impacted areas under the Department’s National Native Seed Strategy Keystone Initiative.

Around $3.1 million will support modernizing training and position qualifications for the Department’s wildland fire workforce through initiatives like Incident Performance and Training Modernization.

Additionally, $1.4 million will advance wildfire science via research funded by both Departments of Interior and Agriculture (USDA) under the Joint Fire Science Program.

These investments aim to support national wildland fire workforce efforts, accelerate fuels management pace, rehabilitate burned areas, and advance wildfire science until 2026.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law also established a Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission tasked with recommending improvements for federal policies on wildfire mitigation, suppression, and management. In September 2023, it released a report outlining 148 recommendations; today's funding advances many of these suggestions.

An interactive map tracking nationwide funding invested from this law for wildland fire management is available on the Department's website.