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Keeping the lights on and the fires out in rural Montana

Image shows a man and a woman in hard hats and safety gear looking on as electrical utility work is done in a forest.
Wildfires are everyone’s concern—they threaten not just the forests in which they burn, but the lives, property and livelihoods of nearby communities. Many communities that live in the shadow of wildfire risk understand this danger and have banded together to address it. One such organization is FireSafe Flathead, which consists of local, county and state representatives, along with officials…
#CommunityWildfireDefenseGrants, #WildfireRiskReduction, #Wildfire, #Fire, #FuelReduction

Powering Through

Workers feed branches into a chipping machine underneath a power line on a road.
Roseburg, Ore – Phil Bigler, the chief operating officer at Douglas Electric Cooperative, embodies the multifaceted role required to keep the lights on in rural America. From strategic planning and managing cybersecurity to hands-on tasks like unloading freight trucks and delivering pizza to linemen during outages, his commitment runs deep. Raised on tales of courageous linemen battling storms to…
#Protection, #CommunityWildfireDefenseGrants, #InfrastructureInvestmentAndJobsAct, #Infrastructure, #Grants

A blueprint for fire prevention

Wildland firefighter igniting a pile of brush with a drip torch as other firefighters stand in the background
The sounds of chainsaws and chippers aren’t normally associated with a sense of new life and vitality. But in Lake County, California, where the 2015 Valley Fire killed 4 people and destroyed nearly 2,000 structures, clearing overgrown brush is not only reducing the risk of wildfire, but also creating jobs and restoring hope.“The Valley Fire made us all wake up and feel that we had to do…
#FireAndAviationManagement, #CommunityWildfireDefenseGrants, #California, #Fire, #Firefighters, #InfrastructureInvestmentAndJobsAct

Community Wildfire Defense Grants - Funded Proposals

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Interactive MapA full-screen version of the Community Wildfire Defense Grant interactive map is available.The Community Wildfire Defense Program assists at-risk communities with planning for and lowering wildfire risks on tribal, state, and privately-managed land. The program comes at a time when the nation faces an ongoing wildfire crisis, and these grants support the Forest Service’s plan to…
#CommunityWildfireDefenseGrants, #Fire, #FireAndAviationManagement, #Grants, #EconomicOpportunity

Who Is Eligible to Apply and How?

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The Hogback Ridge Fuels Crew is clearing tree brush and loading into a chipper to clear land to prevent a catastrophic wildfire from occurring. This is one of many projects nationwide funded by a Community Wildfire Defense Grant in 2023.  How to Apply for the Community Wildfire Defense Grant ProgramApply now for a Community Wildfire Defense Grant. Notices of funding opportunities are…
#CommunityWildfireDefenseGrants, #Fire, #ForestFire, #Grants, #HazardousFuels, #InfrastructureInvestmentAndJobsAct, #StatePrivateTribalForestry, #Wildfire, #WildfireCrisis, #WildfirePrevention, #WildfireRiskReduction, #WildlandFire

Community Wildfire Defense Grant Program

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Community Wildfire Defense Grants (CWDG) help communities and Tribes plan for and reduce wildfire risk and implement the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy.Launched in 2022, the $1 billion five-year competitive grant program funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act…
#CommunityWildfireDefenseGrants, #Fire, #FireAndAviationManagement, #FirePrevention, #ForestFire, #Grants, #HazardousFuels, #InfrastructureInvestmentAndJobsAct, #PrescribedFire, #StatePrivateTribalForestry, #Wildfire, #WildfireCrisis, #WildfirePrevention, #WildfireRiskReduction, #WildlandFire