On Tuesday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, and U.S. Forest Service Chief, Randy Moore, announced a 10-year strategy to confront the country’s wildfire crisis. The strategy, “outlines the need to significantly increase fuels and forest health treatments to address the escalating crisis of wildfire danger that threatens millions of acres and numerous communities across the United States.” 

  • Click here for the announcement press release.
  • Click here for the full strategy memo “for Protecting Communities and Improving Resilience in America’s Forests”.
  • Click here for the “10-year Implementation Plan”.
  • Click here for a joint USDA, Forest Service, Department of the Interior Wildfire Crisis Letter.

Funding sources for the plan’s $50 billion price tag have yet to be fully identified; however, the plan calls for the utilization of nearly $3 billion provided in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to “reduce hazardous fuels and restore America’s forests and grasslands, along with investments in fire-adapted communities and post fire reforestation.” The 10-year plan, if fully implemented, will reduce the threat of wildfires by prioritizing treatment of up to 250,000 acres of forest and rangelands that are at high risk for fires, with fire-prone communities in California among the highest priority areas. The strategy also calls for the U.S. Forest Service to treat up to an additional 20 million acres on national forests and grasslands and support treatment of up to an additional 30 million acres of other federal, state, tribal, private, and family lands through collaborative efforts with state, local and tribal governments.