Law provides $14.5M for wildfire resilience
The Buckskin 2 Fire, which was located eight miles south of Clark Fork, is pictured on Aug. 5, 2023.
(Photo courtesy USDA FOREST SERVICE)
The federal government has allocated about $14.5 million in federal funding for wildfire resilience and fuel reduction in Idaho, officials with the U.S. Department of Interior said in a press release issued Thursday.
The federal funding is for fiscal year 2023 and came from the Infrastructure, Investment, and Jobs Act, often called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed in 2021.
The funding went toward projects to help reduce wildfire risk on more than 170,000 acres across the state, Department of Interior officials said.
“As wildfire seasons become longer, more intense, and more dangerous, investments from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda are helping provide for a more strategic approach to wildland fire management and mitigation, greater support of wildland firefighters, and much-needed equipment and preparedness methods, Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland said in a written statement.
Idaho’s share of the federal funding was part of a larger, $468 million funding allocation across the county, officials said. Overall, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides $1.5 billion for the U.S. Department of Interior to spend over five years on wildfire resilience, fuels reduction, fire science, preparedness, and post-fire restoration projects.