USDA Investing $500 Million to Prevent Wildfires

The USDA is investing $500 million to expand work on the Forest Service’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says the goal is to reduce the risk of wildfires for communities, critical infrastructure, and natural resources.

The investments include $400 million from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds that will be allocated to ongoing efforts on the 21 designated priority landscapes identified in the strategy. The agency says the investments work to protect communities in several areas of the country.

“All told, the investments that we’ve made to date are providing greater security for 550 communities that interface with these forested areas, 1,800 watersheds, and 2,500 miles of power lines are better protected and will be better protected as a result of the investments we’ve made and will continue to make.”

Vilsack says the money they’ve spent to prevent wildfires has already exceeded the goals they set.

“With these resources, we have over the course of the last several years exceeded targets for treatment in hazardous fuel reduction. In fact, we had a record amount of acres treated and a record number of acres involved in prescribed burns.”