Once-in-a-generation Investment in Infrastructure will Bolster Wildland Fire Management
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes $1.5 billion for the Interior Department's wildland fire management
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is a once-in-a-generation investment that will help local, state, and Tribal communities tackle the climate crisis while creating good-paying union jobs, advancing environmental justice, and boosting local economies.
As climate change drives the devastating intersection of extreme heat, drought, and wildland fire danger across the United States, creating wildfires that move with a speed and intensity previously unseen, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides historic investments in wildland fire management for both the Interior and Agriculture departments.
Wildfire Prevention, Response, and Recovery
Over the next five years, the Interior Department will receive an additional $1.5 billion. that will include:
- Nearly $900 million to plan and implement fuels management.
- More than $300 million to complete post-fire restoration activities.
- Nearly $250 million to increase preparedness to respond to wildfires, including workforce reforms.
- $10 million to further support the Joint Fire Science Program.
The law requires the Interior and Agriculture departments to establish a five-year monitoring, maintenance, and treatment plan within 120 days and to publish a long-term strategy within five years. It also directs both departments to conduct restoration treatments and improve the fire regime on 10 million acres.
The law provides support for wildfire reduction efforts in communities that have traditionally been overlooked, such as Tribal Nations, with priority given to each community's high-value infrastructure, cultural resources, and natural resources.
In addition, the law provides more than $900 million to restore ecological health on federal, Tribal, state, and, in some cases, private lands to accomplish ecosystem restoration and invasive species mitigation through the use of stewardship contracts and good neighbor agreements, which will further benefit wildland fire management efforts.
Workforce Transformation
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides $120 million over the next five years for the Interior Department's firefighting workforce transformation, including:
- Establishment of a wildland firefighter occupational series.
- Increases in the base salary of federal wildland firefighters.
- Conversion of at least 1,000 temporary firefighters to permanent, year-round positions (in combination with the USDA Forest Service) to further hazardous fuel treatment efforts,
- Funding to develop recommendations to minimize firefighter exposure to line-of-duty environmental hazards and establish programs that address mental health needs.
Beyond the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Interior Department remains committed to major investments in its most important wildland fire management resource: its workforce. In collaboration with the Forest Service, the Interior Department is focused on building a wildland fire management workforce that is equitably compensated; available year-round to respond to wildland fire; cared for both physically and mentally; and that has all the necessary tools to accomplish its mission safely, effectively, and efficiently.
Interior's Office of Wildland Fire, in collaboration with the Forest Service, is currently developing plans for the strategic implementation of this historic investment in forest restoration, hazardous fuels management, and post-wildfire restoration activities across America's national parks, forests, and grasslands.
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