Federal Lawmakers Send Letter Urging USDA to Prioritize California Wildfire Efforts in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funding

On February 7th,Senator Alex Padilla and Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose), led a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack requesting that the federal government prioritize wildfire mitigation projects in California as the U.S. Forest Service allocates funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act to implement its new 10-year strategy to combat wildfires. Senator Dianne Feinstein, along with RCRC delegation Representatives Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara), Jim Costa (D-Fresno), Jimmy Panetta (D-Monterey), Juan Vargas (D-San Diego), and John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove), signed onto the letter. The USDA and U.S. Forest Service’s recently released strategy report identified that a majority of western high-risk firesheds—large forested landscapes with a high likelihood that an ignition could expose homes, communities, and infrastructure to wildfire—are located in California.