USFS launches new efforts in the west to address the wildfire crisis

Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Thursday expanded efforts to reduce wildfire risk across the western U.S., directly affecting national forests in California.

These investments, made possible through the Biden Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), will directly benefit at-risk communities and critical infrastructure across 11 additional landscapes in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.   

“It is no longer a matter of if a wildfire will threaten many western communities in these landscapes, it is a matter of when,” said Secretary Vilsack. “The need to invest more and to move quickly is apparent. This is a crisis and President Biden is treating it as one. Today’s announcement will bring more than $490 million to 11 key landscapes across the western United States, and will be used to restore our national forests, including the restoration of resilient old-growth forest conditions.”

In California, the following landscapes were selected for increased funding:

Sierra and Elko Fronts (Nevada, California – 3.4M acres): This Intermountain Region project includes work in California as well as Nevada, with a project area totaling 3.4 million acres. These two projects together demonstrate the comprehensive landscape treatment goal of the Wildfire Crisis Strategy.

Southern California Fireshed Risk Reduction Strategy (California – 4M acres): The immense values at risk in southern California and the collaborative solutions underway for vegetation management represent investment opportunities to avoid staggering social, economic, and ecological costs.

Trinity Forest Health and Fire Resilient Rural Communities (California – 910K acres): California’s northern forests are naturally adapted to low-intensity fire. The health and well-being of California communities and ecosystems depend on urgent and effective forest and rangeland stewardship to restore resilient and diverse ecosystems. Numerous roads through the area serve as critical ingress/egress routes for local communities.

Klamath River Basin (Oregon, California – 10M acres) The Forest Service manages about 55 percent of the 10-million-acre Klamath Basin. These lands generate 80 percent of the mean annual surface water supply to the Klamath River. The area provides important habitat for fish listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Plumas Community Protection (California – 285K acres): The Plumas Community Protection Projects Landscape focuses on community zones across the Plumas National Forest with very high, high, or moderate wildfire hazard potential.

The Sierra Front is in western Nevada and eastern California, adjacent to the metropolitan areas of Reno-Sparks and Carson City. With a total population of more than 600,000, the area includes more than 10 rural communities along its western flank. The proposed landscape boundaries generally align with the Sierra Front-Carson-Walker Shared Stewardship high-priority landscape and are adjacent to high-risk firesheds in the neighboring Pacific Southwest.

This announcement complements the agency’s 10 landscape projects announced in 2022 and the agency’s broader strategy to address critical infrastructure, community protection, and forest resilience at risk to catastrophic wildfire. Combined with the initial investment landscapes, these actions will span nearly 45 million acres across 137 of the 250 high-risk firesheds in the western U.S., with a total investment of $930 million on 21 landscapes across 26.7 million acres in 2023. This work will mitigate risk to approximately 200 communities within these landscapes.

“Restoring natural forest health and diversity with thoughtful, science-based fuels treatments is critical for the future of California communities and natural resources,” said Kara Chadwick, deputy regional forester with the Pacific Southwest Region. “With our partners, we are dramatically increasing the scope and pace of fuels reduction projects in landscapes across the state.”

To meet this moment, Secretary Vilsack is also authorizing the Forest Service to utilize a new emergency authority in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, combined with strategic implementation of existing authorities. Doing so will enable the agency to move more quickly in applying targeted treatments to high-risk firesheds identified in the agency’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy, as well as post-fire recovery areas most impacted the past several years.   

These actions are required to be conducted in an ecologically appropriate manner that maximizes the retention of large trees and considers historically underserved communities and tribes. The need to continue working collaboratively with communities and partners is critical. In California, Regional Forester Jennifer Eberlien is co-lead of the California and Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force with California Natural Resources Agency secretary Wade Crowfoot. The Task Force is aligning billions of dollars in state and federal funds to increase the pace and scale of treatments.

“Doing this work in the right place, at the right time, and at the right scale, combined with the use of emergency authorities, will accelerate our planning, consultation, contracting, hiring and project work to reduce wildfire risk and improve forest health and resilience,” said Forest Service Chief Randy Moore. “Collaboration with Tribes, communities and partners will remain a priority, and we will continue to use the best available science when carrying out this important work.”