The USDA Forest Service announces a combined 900 million dollar investment to combat the wildfire crisis in the western US.
The funding was built into the Biden administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure law and Inflation Reduction act to address at-risk communities and critical infrastructure across 11 additional landscapes. Secretary Vilsack says, “it is no longer a matter of if a wildfire will threaten many western communities in these landscapes; it is a matter of when.”
Two hundred eighty-five acres in the Plumas national forest will benefit from this funding for projects within identified very high, high, and moderate wildfire hazard areas. A total of nearly 30 million acres are expected to see more projects completed with this funding this year alone, benefitting some 200 communities within these landscapes.
Secretary Vilsack has also authorized emergency authority to the forest service to quicken the pace and increase the scale of implementing treatment projects within high-fire risk areas and post-fire recovery areas.
