The Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest will receive $3.3 million to invest in critical fuels reduction work, it was announced Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service’s Northern Region announced investments of more than $8 million in the Helena-Lewis and Clark and Custer-Gallatin national forests in support of the Collaborative Wildfire Risk Reduction Program (CWRRP).
These investments will be funded by hazardous fuels funds from the Inflation Reduction Act, officials said. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced USDA is investing $100 million in 21 new projects to expand work on the Forest Service’s strategy to reduce the risk to communities, critical infrastructure and forests from the nation’s growing wildfire crisis.
The new projects span 14 states and 18 national forests and are part of the $3.2 billion investment made possible through President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
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The Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest project will focus on reducing the amount of dead and down trees resulting from above-average hazardous fuels following pine beetle outbreaks that killed a significant number of trees.
Forest officials said they were “thrilled” by the announcement.
“This investment will allow us to reduce hazardous fuels in our highest priority firesheds around Helena and Lincoln, while reducing risks to critically important municipal watersheds such as Tenmile, which serve the community of Helena,” Emily Platt, forest supervisor for the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, said in a news release.
In the Bozeman Ranger District, the project will build upon previous restoration work to treat more areas of high wildfire risk where national forests and grasslands meet homes and communities, known as the wildland-urban interface.
“These efforts will continue reducing wildfire risk while creating economic benefits to our community and protecting the health of this watershed,” Corey Lewellen, Bozeman District ranger, said in a news release.
CWRRP is designed to significantly reduce wildfire risk on Forest Service lands outside of the 21 designated Wildfire Crisis Strategy Landscapes. Lands eligible for the CWRRP funding must be within the Healthy Forest Restoration Act –wildland-urban interface and within areas of very high wildfire hazard potential and/or within high-risk firesheds.
The Forest Service launched the Wildfire Crisis Strategy in 2022 with the goal of safeguarding communities and the resources they depend on by reducing wildfire risk.
This work includes the treatment of more than 1.5 million acres and reducing wildfire risk for some 550 communities, 2,500 miles of high-voltage power lines and 1,800 watersheds that supply drinking water to millions of Americans, officials said.
From Gazette news services
