Missoula County awarded third wildfire prep grant
Laura Lundquist
(Missoula Current) Missoula County has received another grant of more than $1 million from the U.S. Forest Service to help with wildfire planning.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Forest Service announced that Missoula County has received one of 58 grants awarded this year from the Community Wildfire Defense Grant program and is the only Montana recipient in this third round of awards.
Missoula County’s grant for $1,268,548 will go toward establishing a wildlife planning program that focuses on more home retrofits for fire resistance, new regulations to ensure wildfire-resistant development and identifying land-use policies that reduce community exposure to wildfire.
“(It’s) figuring out how to reduce our exposure to wildfire ... where we grow. But then, when we do grow and when we do construct new homes, make sure they're as safe as possible. So, looking at home retrofits for existing homes that are out there, but in new construction, thinking about the kinds of construction standards that we can do to make our homes safer,” Karen Hughes, Missoula County Director of Planning, Development and Sustainability, told KPAX.
Launched in 2022 under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the competitive grant program is doling out $1 billion over five years to assist local entities, including tribal communities, non-profit organizations and state forestry agencies, with planning for and mitigating wildfire risks on lands not managed by federal agencies. The grant prioritizes communities that are in areas identified as having high wildfire hazard potential, are low income, or have been affected by a disaster within the previous decade that increased wildfire risk.
“No single organization can tackle the severe fire conditions we face today. It is imperative that we work together to protect our forest and communities,” said Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz in a release. “For those communities that already have plans in place, these investments will enable immediate action to reduce wildfire risk.”
Last year, Missoula County received a Community Wildfire Defense Grant of more than $4.8 million for community wildfire resilience, which dealt with community outreach and fuels reduction projects in and around Missoula, East Missoula, Bonner, Potomac and Condon. Missoula County received a second grant last year of $100,000 that paid for updating the community wildfire protection plan. Park and Sanders counties also received smaller grants to update their community wildfire protection plans.
Also last year, the Glacier Gateway project in the Flathead Valley was awarded a $10 million grant that’s paying for clearing areas along utility lines and grants for landowners to do clearing on their property. One year later, landowner agreements worth $2.1 million are in place to treat 828 acres, with work anticipated to continue for the next few years. In their first year, Flathead Electric Cooperative used the money to complete 400 acres of fuels reduction around electric infrastructure and utility rights-of-way, with another 1,094 acres of treatment to be completed.
In 2023, the first-year grants were awarded, the four grants awarded in Montana went to the Montana Department of Natural Resources: three grants of $1.5 million to $5.9 million for fuels reduction in Lincoln County, the North Gallatin Front and the Blackfoot watershed and one grant of $117,648 to update Treasure County community wildfire protection plan in eastern Montana.
In all, Montana has so far received $25.8 million in Community Wildfire Defense grants. Two years of potential funding remain.
Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.