Acting Deputy Secretary of the Interior Announces $138 Million for Wildland Fire Mitigation and Resilience

Last year, 55,571 fires burnt 2,633,636 acres of land across the US. This year, wildland firefighters are getting a boost in their efforts to reduce the risks of wildfires and advance fire recovery. 
 
This January, during a visit to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, Acting Deputy Secretary of the Interior Laura Daniel-Davis announced $138 million in new allocations from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to help protect communities from the risk of wildfires in fiscal year 2024. 
 
The goal of the funding is to support the modernization of wildlife training, reduce the risk of extreme fires, rehabilitate burned areas, and advance fire science. 

“As climate change drives increasingly extreme wildfires across the nation, the Interior Department is expanding the nation’s preparedness to address wildfire activity while building climate resilience across landscapes and communities,” said Daniel-Davis. “Through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, we are accelerating the pace and scale of efforts to reduce the risk of extreme wildfires and help affected areas recover, investing in improved science and technology to enable a more strategic approach, and ensuring our wildland fire workforce receives the support it deserves.”   

The investment comes as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that enabled the Department of the Interior to spend $1.5 billion over five years to support the wildland firefighting workforce.

During the funding announcement the Acting Deputy Secretary mentioned a few projects and initiatives the funds would go towards, including: 

• $12.4 million to modernize wildland fire training and position qualifications. The Incident Performance and Training Modernization initiative will review and analyze 100 wildland fire positions to better support trainees and evaluators and strengthen integrated performance-based training systems. The new training system will update courses, provide more options for firefighters to gain practical experience, and reduce barriers to qualification. 
• $7.5 million will go towards rebuilding landscapes that were damaged by recent fires beyond the point where they could be naturally recovered. Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding will support the re-seeding and planting of native vegetation, along with the treatment of invasive species. 

The current investments supplement a total of $647 million allocated under the infrastructure law since its enactment in fiscal year 2022. These essential funds do not only support the Interior Department's wildland fire workforce, but also expedite the implementation of fuels management and burned area rehabilitation at an increased pace and scale, and promote advancements in wildland fire science.

To understand more about where the Interior Department is allocating money from the infrastructure law, check out this interactive map.

For more about the latest technologies and tools wildfire agencies are being equipped with, register for Wildfire Technology Management this April 23-24 at The Westin in Pasadena, California. During this event we will explore the latest advancements in technologies that can be leveraged by fire agencies, the importance of bolstering interagency collaboration and international efforts - comparing technologies, tools, techniques, workflows and best practices for wildfire management around the world. The event will also be chaired by Jeff Rupert, Director of the Office of Woodland Fires, who will provide further insights into funding initiatives, such as the one mentioned in this article.