The USDA Forest Service is seeking applications for its 2023 Community Wildfire Defense Grant-South to assist at-risk local communities and Indian Tribes with planning and mitigating against the risk created by wildfire.
Donor Name: Forest Services
State: Selected States
County: All Counties
Territory: Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 10/31/2023
Size of the Grant: $10,000,000
Grant Duration: 5 years
Details:
There are two primary project types for which the grant provides funding: The development and revising of Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP), and the implementation of projects described in a CWPP that is less than ten years old. The Act prioritizes at-risk communities that are in an area identified as having high or very high wildfire hazard potential, are low-income, and/or have been impacted by a severe disaster.
The CWDG helps communities in the wildland urban interface (WUI) implement the three goals of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (Cohesive Strategy):
- Resilient Landscapes: Landscapes, regardless of jurisdictional boundaries, are resilient to fire, insect, disease, invasive species, and climate change disturbances, in accordance with management objectives.
- Fire Adapted Communities: Human populations and infrastructure are as prepared as possible to receive, respond to, and recover from wildland fire.
- Safe, Effective, Risk-based Wildfire Response: All jurisdictions participate in making and implementing safe, effective, efficient risk-based wildfire management decisions.
This is for projects that will be carried out within the footprint of the Southern States (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, and for Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands).
Project Objectives
- A project proposal must advance objectives and priorities identified in a community wildfire protection plan that is not more than 10 years old (for this NOFO defined as a CWPP signed during calendar year 2013 or later).
- A project proposal must be designed to achieve one or more of the following objectives:
- Assist a community with planning to address management of wildfire risk.
- Assist a community with mitigation measures or actions to reduce wildfire risk.
Projects to be Given Priority
- Applicants will have the responsibility to indicate on the application if they meet any or all of the three priorities.
- The applicant will also need to provide supporting documentation or a link to such documentation for each priority that is checked. Priority will be given to project proposals that:
- Are located in an area identified as having a high or very high wildfire hazard potential;
- Benefit a low-income community; or
- Are located in a community impacted by a severe disaster within the previous 10 years.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Program Funding: $250,000,000
- Award Ceiling: $10,000,000
- The grant term is for a total maximum of five (5) years.
Location of Projects
An eligible applicant may apply for grant funding for a project proposal to be conducted on lands with the following ownership types provided the project proposal directly reduces wildfire risk to a community.
- Private,
- Local governments,
- Homeowner associations,
- State government, and
- Tribal/Alaska native corporation (includes Trust lands).
Eligibility Criteria
- The following entities are eligible to submit a project proposal for funding:
- Units of local governments representing communities located in an area with a risk of wildfires,
- Indian Tribes (please apply through either the Indian Tribes/Alaska Native Corporations specific notice or the applicable regional notice),
- Non-profit organizations such as homeowner associations that assist such communities,
- State forestry agencies, and
- Alaska Native Corporations (please apply through the either Indian Tribes/Alaska Native Corporations specific notice or the applicable regional notice).
- For-profit entities are not eligible to apply for a grant under this program.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
