This week, U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Steve Daines (R-Montana) introduced the Community Wildfire Protection Act, to ensure at-risk communities are eligible for federal grants to reduce wildfire risk. Eligibility for many federal wildfire resilience grants is based on the 2003 Healthy Forests Restoration Act, which defines “at-risk” communities as those adjacent to federal lands or on a list of communities in the Federal Register from 2001. Since then, a shifting climate has significantly expanded the threat of devastating wildfire, posing a much greater risk to communities that are not currently eligible for these grants. The Community Wildfire Protection Act would amend the definition of an “at-risk” community to be more comprehensive, ensuring communities at high risk of wildfire are eligible for federal mitigation grants.
