As part of the Governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Strategy, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) is announcing the availability of up to $117 million in funding for local projects that address the risk of wildfire and reduce wildfire potential to communities, through the department’s Wildfire Prevention Grants program.
Donor Name: California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE)
State: California
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: (mm/dd/yyyy) 01/10/2024
Size of the Grant: $500,000 to $1 million
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
CAL FIRE’s WP Grants Program provides funding for wildfire prevention projects and activities in and near fire threatened communities that focus on increasing the protection of people, structures, and communities. Funded activities include Hazardous Fuels Reduction, Wildfire Prevention Planning, and Wildfire Prevention Education with an emphasis on improving public health and safety while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
California’s Strategic Fire Plan serves as a roadmap for project development. Projects are evaluated based on the overall benefit to reduce the threat of wildfires to people, structures, and communities. CAL FIRE will consider the wildfire hazards and risk of an area, the geographic balance of projects, and whether the project is complementary to other wildfire prevention or forest health activities when awarding grants. Disadvantaged communities and low-income communities as defined by Assembly Bill 1550 (Gomez) (Stats. 2016, Ch. 369), and projects that demonstrate a carbon benefit by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and contain matching funds will receive additional priority. Projects are selected on a competitive basis and consecutive awards are not guaranteed.
What are the Grant Request Limits?
- Total Grant Request: The maximum allowable funding amount is $3 million.
- Equipment Limit: Not to exceed a cumulative total of $750,000.
- Indirect Costs: 12%
Qualifying Project Types and Activities
The WP Grants Program funds three types of activities: Hazardous Fuels Reduction, Wildfire Prevention Planning, and Wildfire Prevention Education. Below are some examples of qualifying projects and activities:
- Hazardous Fuels Reduction
- Vegetation clearance in critical locations to reduce wildfire intensity and rate of spread
- Creation or maintenance of fuel breaks in strategic locations, as identified in CAL FIRE Unit Fire Plans, a Community Wildfire Protection Plan, or similar strategic planning document
- Removal of ladder fuels to reduce the risk of crown fires
- Creation of community-level wildfire prevention programs, such as community chipping days, roadside chipping, and green waste bin programs
- Selective tree removal (thinning) to improve forest health to withstand wildfire
- Modification of vegetation adjacent to roads to improve public safety for egress of evacuating residents and ingress of responding emergency personnel
- Reduction of fuel loading around critical infrastructure to maintain continuity of government and other critical services
- Purchase of fuel modification equipment not to exceed a cumulative total of $750,000. Equipment is an item of $5,000 or more per unit cost and has a tangible useful life of more than one year
- Supplies include items under $5,000 per unit cost. Chainsaws are an example of a supply item and are not considered equipment
- Projects to improve compliance with defensible space requirements as required by Public Resources Code Section 4291 (Projects eligible for CCI funds are low-income, disabled, or elderly households per CA requirements)
- Seasonal and temporary prescribed grazing consistent with increasing the protection of people, structures, and communities
- Wildfire Prevention Planning
- Wildfire risk or related mapping
- Creation or update of strategic wildfire planning documents, such as:
- Evacuation plans
- Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP)
- Local Hazard Mitigation Plans
- Safety Elements
- Wildfire Prevention or mitigation plans
- Wildfire Prevention Education
- Development and implementation of public education and outreach programs.
- Workshops, meetings, materials creation, and other educational activities with the purpose of increasing knowledge and awareness of information that could be used to reduce the total number of wildfires, acres burned, and structures lost
- To educate the public on regarding making homes and communities more wildfire resilient, including defensible space training.
- Activities are subject to CAL FIRE approval.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible applicants include, but are not limited to, the following:
- State Agencies
- Federal Agencies
- Native American Tribes
- Joint Powers Authority (JPA) if the entities involved are eligible applicants
- Local agencies, including:
- Cities, counties
- Fire protections districts
- Community services districts
- Water districts
- Resource conservation districts
- Special districts
- Certified local conservation corps
- Fire Safe Councils with a 501(c)(3) designation
- Other qualified non-profit organizations with a 501(c)(3) designation.
- The following applicants do not qualify:
- A privately held for-profit company or corporation.
- Individual landowners requesting a grant specifically for a project to be completed on only his/her own land.
- Homeowners associations or other associations unless they have 501(c)(3) non-profit status. These associations should consider applying through a fiscal sponsor such as eligible applicants listed above.
For more information, visit CAL FIRE.
