Senator Murray: “This is great news for Washington state as we work to keep our communities safe from wildfires that are getting worse and wildfire seasons that are getting longer.”
WATCH: At Hearing, Senator Murray Outlines Budgetary Costs of Worsening Wildfires, Need for Climate Action and Wildfire Investments – MORE HERE
(Washington, DC) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced nearly $25 million in funding for 14 projects across Washington state aimed at mitigating wildfire risks. The grants come from the Community Wildfire Defense Grant program and are funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which Senator Murray was a leader in passing.
“As we tackle the climate crisis, this is great news for Washington state as we work to keep our communities safe from wildfires that are getting worse and wildfire seasons that are getting longer,” said Senator Murray. “These federal dollars are just the first of more to come as we continue to build on the investments we need to protect our infrastructure and to keep Washington state’s precious natural resources safe from destructive wildfires. I’ll keep doing everything I can in the other Washington to build on these investments.”
This initial round of investments will assist communities in developing Community Wildfire Protection Plans, key roadmaps for addressing wildfire risks locally, as well as fund immediate actions to lower the risk of wildfire on non-federal land for communities where a Community Wildfire Protection Plan is already in place. Key projects in Washington state are below:
- $328,036 for Chelan County Natural Resource Department, Stemilt-Squilchuck Forest Resilience Project
Plan and implement 400 acres of mechanical thinning in high priority units across ownerships in the planning area from 2023 to 2025. Implementing thinning and fuels reduction projects across the Stemilt-Squilchuck landscape. This will serve to increase the footprint of ongoing work in the area and make a meaningful impact on stand structure. - $125,000 for Clallam County Community Wildfire Protection Plan Update
Create a new Community Wildfire Protection Plan that will involve community stakeholder outreach, education, and input. It will include a climate change analysis to better predict wildfire risk. Also, an extensive hazard risk assessment to identify Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) areas and neighborhoods with vulnerable populations that may face wildfire risk. - $750,000 for Community Firewise Sky Meadows Ranch Hazardous Fuels
Create fire break lines within the community in order to attempt to minimize damage in the event of a large-scale wildfire by removing fuels that will feed a wildfire and removing trees that encroach into easement roads. Also, to educate the community on Firewise programs and techniques for treating 250 acres over a four-year period. - $2,700,875 for Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Hazardous Fuels Reduction
Implement the proactive construction of strategic fuel breaks and wildfire risk mitigation work in Tract D in the southwestern corner of the Yakama Reservation. This project proposes to treat approximately 993 acres of hazardous fuels over a five-year period from 2023 to 2028. It will involve utilizing a combination of hand crews, heavy equipment, such as masticators, and/or prescribed fire utilizing capacity provided by Tribal Forestry, - $65,126 for Flowery Trail Community Association, Hazardous Fuel Mitigation
Create a 200 feet wide shaded fuel break which would completely surround the 150 acres of the development. This area would have annual maintenance. The rest of the acreage would receive a planting of western Larch and Ponderosa pine seedlings to return wildland fire tolerant trees into the area. These actions include fuel mitigation, increasing the shaded fuel breaks, requiring home hardiness, and compliance with proper landscaping. Will follow the Firewise USA guidelines. As a result, the community would be well prepared to survive a wildland fire. - $10,000,000 for Kittitas County Conservation District, Kittitas County Resilient Landscapes
Fund a fuels mitigation project that will reduce wildfire risk in Kittitas County while creating more resilient communities and forests in the project area. It is estimated that 92% of requested funds are for on-the-ground fuels work. Projects are driven by the planning efforts of the Washington Department of Natural Resources, the Kittitas Community Wildfire Protection Plan, and the planning efforts of the County Fire Chiefs, the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest’s Cle Elum Ranger District, the Southeastern Region of Washington Department of Natural Resources, and the Kittitas Fire Adapted Communities Coalition. - $66,446 for Lincoln County Conservation District, Lincoln County Community Wildfire Protection Plan Update
Build upon the previous Community Wildfire Protection Plan to identify high-risk areas and recommend specific projects that may help prevent wildland fires from occurring. To at least lessen their impact on residents and property in Lincoln County. - $5,518,518 for Mt. Adams Resource Stewards, West Klickitat County Wildfire Defense Project
Construct approximately 35 miles (1,744 acres) of strategic fuel breaks around seven high-risk rural communities. This will be paired with a robust outreach and assistance program that will directly serve community members over five years. - $103,000 for Pacific County Emergency Management, Pacific County Community Wildfire Protection Plan Development
Create a Community Wildfire Protection Plan developed in collaboration of Federal, State, and local partners and stakeholders in the Urban Wildland -Interface (WUI) of Pacific County. The plan will clearly identify our mission to protect life, property, critical infrastructure, and the environment in the WUI. This plan will focus on reducing wildfire risks in the landscape of the specific urban interface areas, incorporate the Firewise USA program, and implement large scale fire fuel reduction efforts. - $1,417,500 for Spokane County Fire District #4, Community Wildfire Protection Plan Implementation
Carry out the mitigation measures present in the Spokane County Wildfire Preparedness Plan (CWPP) conducted in January 2014. Spokane County Fire District #4 intends to establish two new Firewise communities during the grant timeline to complete hazardous fuel reduction and mitigation programs. The total number of acres planned to be treated over the course of five years is 500 acres along with other measures listed in the Spokane CWPP over the next five years. - $1,503,000 for Spokane Fire Department, City of Spokane Hazardous Fuels Reduction
Fund fuel reduction treatments on city owned properties. The second priority will be any adjacent private ownership and or municipal owned properties. Activities will result in 1,000 acres being thinned, pruned, and disposed of. - $1,503,000 for Spokane City Fire Department, Request 1
Fund a Cost Share Fuels reduction treatments of high-priority city properties. These properties are scattered throughout the City of Spokane in five to 500 acre parcels. Fuel types within the area consist of overstocked conifer forests of Ponderosa pines, Douglas fir, and brush depending on slope, shade, and viable water sources. The end result will be the treatment of a minimum acreage of 1,000 acres, divided by five years. Approximately 200 acres will be treated per year. - $420,000 for Washington Department of Natural Resources, Department of Natural Resources Southeast, Request 1
Mitigate wildfire risk for the City of Cle Elum by reducing fuel loadings and canopy bulk densities across 180 acres on private lands. Located throughout the western edge of the City of Cle Elum. - $436,500 for Washington State Department of Natural Resources, White Salmon Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project
Conduct Hazardous Fuels Reduction that will help to mitigate wildfire risk by creating an approximate 100 to 200 feet wide, 100-acre fuel break around the entire community. Allow for some community hazardous fuels reduction areas as mentioned in the 2018 Klickitat County Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
Senator Murray has made clear that Congress must take bold action on climate change, and helped to pass the Inflation Reduction Act last year, which delivers the largest investment in combating the climate crisis in American history. The Inflation Reduction Act will invest $369 billion over the next decade into clean energy, clean air travel, energy storage, and more—the largest climate investment in United States history.
Senator Murray also played a key role in securing funds for wildfire prevention and mitigation, fire resilient forests, and more. In the FY23 spending package passed last year, Senator Murray was able to include funding for priorities like:
- Wildland Firefighting: Total annual funding for wildfire suppression is $4.395 billion, of which $1.395 billion is provided in base suppression operations, $2.55 billion is provided in the Wildfire Suppression Operations Reserve Fund, and $450 million is provided in the disaster supplemental. The FY23 spending package provides $550 million (14 percent) more than fiscal year 2022. Since the enactment of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (Public Law 115-141), which authorized the Reserve Fund, the average annual cost of suppression has exceeded the assumptions that informed current funding levels the Reserve Fund. Fiscal year 2021 was the most expensive year on record, with costs exceeding $4 billion; fiscal year 2022 costs were over $3.7 billion. As catastrophic fires grow in size and frequency, wildfire suppression funding must keep pace. Further, the FY23 bill builds on commitments to improve compensation for federal firefighters and convert seasonal positions to full-time—an important priority for Senator Murray.
- Wildfire Smoke Mitigation: The bill provides $7 million, an increase of $3 million from the fiscal year 2022 level, for the EPA wildfire grant program established last year to support local efforts to prepare for and protect against wildfire smoke hazards, including by developing smoke mitigation and filtration plans for schools and community buildings. It also provides $3 million to support EPA wildfire smoke monitoring as well as smoke forecasting and communication tools like AirNow Fire and Smoke Map.
- Hazardous Fuels: The Forest Service and the Department of the Interior are provided a total of $454 million for hazardous fuels reduction, $40 million more than last year.
- Forest Restoration: The bill builds on investments in the Forest Service, including $32 million for the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration (CFLR) program, a $4 million increase.
Earlier this month, Senator Murray highlighted the economic costs of wildfires at a Senate Budget Committee hearing and underscored the need for federal investments to strengthen wildfire mitigation and suppression efforts. In 2021, Senator Murray penned an op-ed to the Seattle Times, stating, “Congress must send President Biden a landmark investment in climate action that will protect our planet for current and future generations — nothing less will cut it.” Senator Murray has consistently rallied her colleagues in the Senate to pass bold climate action legislation and continues to press for climate action in every way possible.
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