The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), H.R. 3684, and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), H.R. 5376, provide historical investments to support healthy urban and rural forests and address wildland fire risk across western landscapes. These funds are critically important to state and U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Island forestry agencies as they move the needle on priority issues affecting state, private, and federal forests within their boundaries.
CWSF is excited to showcase stories from member states and Pacific Islands about how BIL and IRA programs and funds are being implemented across the western region. Examples of related funding and programs include the Community Wildfire Defense Grants, Good Neighbor Authority, State Forest Action Plan Implementation funds, Urban and Community Forestry, Forest Legacy Program, and more. Please see the resources section below for relevant webpage links.
We hope that this webpage will help to tell the story of the work being accomplished and also provide content for other partners and platforms. Additional stories will be added as they become available.
Featured Story
Washington
The Washington Department of Natural Resources Community Resilience and Forest Resilience programs utilized BIL State Forest Action Plan and IRA Landowner Assistance funds to support private forest landowners' wildfire risk reduction and forest health improvement efforts.
Learn more in a two-part video series: Part 1 and Part 2.
State Forestry Stories
American Samoa
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DJ Sene and Forestry Program interns Milo Vaelua and Lafaele Aunoa pictured at the Auto nursery.
The American Samoa Community College - Agriculture, Community and Natural Resources (ASCC-ACNR) Forestry Program received Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Forest Action Plan implementation funding in September 2022 to provide technical assistance to landowners, farmers, residents, students, and communities in American Samoa. The BIL grants were designed to provide additional funding to support projects within the Forest Stewardship Program (FSP) and the Forest Health & Invasive Species Program.
The primary goal for the FSP-BIL project was to install two small 15’x15’ nurseries on FSP landowner client lands. Establishing two new nurseries provides better access to clients who are unable to visit the ASCC-ACNR Forestry Greenhouse due to transportation limitations, COVID restrictions, and conflicting daily schedules. The first nursery was established in the village of Auto, and the second nursery in the village of Amanave. Both sites are easily accessible and managed by stay-at-home gardeners who have agreed to long-term maintenance and use of the nurseries, as directed by a Memorandum of Understanding. The new BIL-funded nurseries have the same functions and services as the ASCC-ACNR Forestry Greenhouse. Forestry staff and interns visit the nurseries monthly to collect data and assist with activities such as weeding, transplanting, pruning, and more. Since June 2023, a total of 173 native saplings have been distributed to six clients and one church group. Both nurseries are still being developed, and once completed, the Forestry Program will distribute more trees to these nurseries and encourage residents and communities to visit them.
Both nurseries are located in American Samoa’s Forest Action Plan (FAP) priority areas and help to implement critical issues and strategies outlined in the FAP. These issues and strategies include educating the public and farmers about the importance of preserving native forests and landscaping alternatives to reduce the rate of conversion to impervious surfaces, planting native trees or soil-stabilizing grasses on stream corridors and riparian zones to mitigate soil erosion, and promoting agroforestry in urban zones to prevent clearing upslope.
While the project will conclude in December 2024, these nurseries will continue to serve the FSP, landowners, and clients for the long term.
To learn more about this project, contact DJ Sene at d.sene@amsamoa.edu.
Submitted by Diana Selby, Manager of Program Delivery, Colorado State Forest Service
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Photo: Sam Scavo, Colorado State Forest Service
The Forest & Woodland Resource Management Program - San Luis Valley Expansion agreement was developed for timber harvest operations and stewardship work to improve forest health and resilience to wildfires and drought, and remove insect and disease-infested trees in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado.
The Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) entered into the five-year agreement in 2020 with several modifications to include funds for CSFS capacity and additional forest treatments. Recent funding has been supported by BLM Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Good Neighbor Authority dollars.
Under this agreement, the CSFS has treated 117 acres of BLM lands via commercial sales and stewardship work and hired a full-time forester focused on BLM and adjacent private land treatments. The CSFS also secured various other funds to implement forest treatments on adjacent private lands, including 80 acres that have been treated to date.
The Idaho Shared Stewardship Agreement between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and State of Idaho focuses on 6.1 million acres of National Forest System experiencing a combination of high wildfire hazard and above-normal levels of insect and disease mortality. In April 2022, the USDA Forest Service (Forest Service) announced the designation of two high-risk firesheds in the Southwest Idaho landscape as part of the implementation of the 10-year Wildfire Crisis Strategy. The Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) and the Payette and Boise National Forests entered into a joint agreement to implement fuels reduction projects under the Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) in February of 2023. This agreement included $2,741,300 of funds resulting from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to plan and implement a wide range of vegetation treatments in the Southwest Idaho Landscape, including timber harvesting, mastication, and thinning.
Approximately $580,000 of these funds are being used to complete fuels reduction activities contracted through the IDL under the GNA. About 1,150 acres of hand thinning and piling was completed in the fall of 2023 on the New Meadows District of Payette National Forest. Another 200 acres of mastication work is underway near the Bogus Basin Ski area on the Mountain Home District of the Boise National Forest. IDL is currently working with the National Forests to develop projects to implement more than 2,600 acres of additional fuels reduction work in 2024.
The Forest Service Region 4 office is working in coordination with state, county, and tribal partners to identify and make investments across Idaho landscapes, both inside and outside of Wildfire Crisis Strategy areas, to reduce the impacts of wildfire to communities. These partnerships are filling crucial capacity gaps and are providing increased contracting flexibility to better leverage the existing workforce in local communities to meet desired future conditions.
The Kansas Forest Service (KFS) received Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funding from the USDA Forest Service State, Private, and Tribal Forestry to enhance state and tribal nurseries and seed orchards. The funding was directed to two major projects: the improvement of the conservation seedling nursery shadehouse structure and efficiency and capacity improvements for collecting, processing, and storing bulk tree seed for direct seeding reforestation and afforestation projects.
The KFS Conservation Trees Program produces containerized conservation-grade tree and shrub seedlings, distributes bare-root conservation-grade tree and shrub seedlings produced by partner nurseries, and produces, collects, and processes tree and shrub seed for seedling production and bulk seed supply for direct seeding of trees in reforestation/afforestation projects. It has been in its operating location since the mid-1950s and expanded in the 1960s, where its focus was on coniferous species for windbreaks. Over the years, most of the demand and consequent production has shifted to primarily hardwood species and, as a result, the KFS seed and seedling production facilities have a reduced potential to meet existing demand.
The renovation of the shadehouse facility began in December of 2022, with an anticipated completion in May 2024. The BIL funds will be used to purchase a clearspan shadehouse along with an irrigation system, rack lifters, and other equipment and supplies used for containerized seedling production at KFS. The outcome of this project will be increased seedling production capacity, efficiency, and improved seedling quality.
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Photo: Aaron Yoder
The improvements to the tools, supplies, and equipment used in seed collection and processing began in July 2023 and will conclude in July 2024. These improvements will begin with collection and processing efficiencies to increase capacity of the bulk tree and shrub seed program at KFS through purchasing equipment and supplies for faster seed collection, faster and more effective seed processing, and more efficient seed storage. The outcome of this project will be increased volume and quality of seed available for reforestation and afforestation projects via direct seeding in Kansas, and throughout the Midwest.
If you would like to learn more about these projects, contact Kansas Forest Service Water Quality Forester Andy Klein at ajklein@ksu.edu.
Nebraska
Submitted by the Nebraska Forest Service
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Photo: Ben Bohall
In April 2022, Nebraska found itself grappling with an extended drought that had persisted for nearly a year. The situation had grown dire, with the onset of the fire season occurring much earlier than usual, leading many to wonder if the previous year's fire season had ever truly ended. Nebraska was experiencing wildland fires in parts of the state that generally did not see or experience large destructive wildfires. This was particularly true with the Road 702 and Road 739 wildfires. Both wildfires were wind-driven, fast-moving fires consuming around 40,000 acres each and destroying homes and property.
The focus of this story isn't the fires themselves but rather the insights the state gained while navigating these fires. Many volunteer fire departments lacked appropriate wildland fire gear when responding to these local disasters. The volunteers wore their structural bunker gear, which is heavy, hot, and unsuitable for wildfire suppression. In response to this pressing need, the Nebraska Forest Service (NFS) embarked on a mission to make a lasting impact and assist these volunteer fire departments in securing the appropriate wildland fire gear for future wildfire incidents.
Utilizing funding from the BIL Volunteer Fire Assistance program, NFS leveraged the funds against other state and federal funds to establish the Wildland Volunteer Fire Assistance program, a competitive grant program at 75% cost-share.
The Wildland Volunteer Fire Assistance program provided wildland fire gear to volunteer fire departments in need. Items purchased included individual firefighter PPE, including Nomex clothing, fire shelters, hand tools, and more. This program was a great success, ultimately leading to NFS funding 103 departments with a total project cost of over $1 million.
North Dakota
Featured Story
Submitted by the North Dakota Forest Service
The North Dakota Forest Service hired a Wildland Training Technician to expand wildland fire trainings to North Dakota Rural Fire Departments and other cooperators. The added position, whose salary and operating expenses are supported by BIL Forest Action Plan funding, is intended to expand and enhance the Fire Management Program’s comprehensive wildland fire training and mentoring process and engage rural fire departments.
The role of the Wildland Training Technician is primarily focused on developing and implementing wildland fire curriculum with the North Dakota Firefighters Association and delivered during the annual fire school in Minot each winter. In addition, individualized trainings are held at the department’s training facilities in the evenings and on weekends.
Other opportunities to increase wildland firefighter capacity in the state included providing Basic Wildland Firefighter Certification to the North Dakota National Guard (NDNG). Over four days, forty-five service members were trained in both classroom and field settings. These trained firefighters help to add capacity during spring and fall wildland fire seasons when traditional resources are scarce. During severe fire years, large devastating wildfires like the one that necessitated the evacuation of Medora in early April 2021, happen before seasonal firefighters are available. Adding NDNG resources can help North Dakota help ourselves when disaster strikes.
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North Dakota National Guard constructing fireline in Bismarck. Photo: Sgt. 1st Class Chad Highland, North Dakota National Guard.
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Sean White Mountain leading wildland fire training at the North Dakota National Guard training facilities in Bismarck. Photo: Sgt. 1st Class Chad Highland, North Dakota National Guard.
Utah
Utah’s Forest Legacy Program Preserves Over 18,000 Acres with IRA Funding
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Aerial view of the Goring Forest Legacy Project site. Photo: Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands
The Utah Forest Legacy Program (FLP) received $14.4 million in the latest round of funding through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to preserve 18,648 acres in two project sites in Northern Utah.
The Coldwater Project in Cache County will preserve 15,623 acres of forested land and receive $10,545,000 of IRA funding. This project is a rare opportunity for landscape-level conservation as it ties together an expanse of National Forest System lands, a state wildlife management area, and existing FLP projects within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Bear River Watershed Conservation Area. Through IRA funds, this property will receive a conservation easement to preserve crucial habitat for several state-sensitive species, including the bald eagle, and includes a major elk migration corridor. This project also contributes to the local timber industry and offers public access for recreation and hunting.
The Goring Forest Project in Rich and Cache County will receive $3,935,000 to preserve 2,725 acres of highly developable private forest within the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. This project site is one hour from the Wasatch Front – one of the fastest-growing areas in the country. The project supports a watershed-wide conservation strategy and collaborative efforts of state and federal agencies to increase the pace and scale of conservation throughout the tri-state Bear River Watershed (Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho). A conservation easement will protect crucial moose, elk, and deer habitat and a critical interstate wildlife corridor.
Each site is bordered by state and federal partners who also manage their lands to meet agency-specific conservation objectives. For example, the Coldwater Project works with state and federal wildlife agencies to preserve valuable wildlife habitat in areas of the state that are starting to experience high interest from developers. This project ties together conservation work being done by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Forest Service, and the Utah Division of Wildlife.
If you have a BIL or IRA story to tell, please contact Kelsey Delaney.
Additional Resources
If you are a CWSF/WFLC member and wish to access additional BIL and IRA information, please log in to the WFLC Member Portal. If you need assistance logging in, please contact Sara Goodwin.
