The USDA selected 11 additional landscapes in the West as the sites for expanded efforts to reduce the risk of wildfires, announced Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday. Some $490 million was earmarked for the landscapes, raising USDA expenditures on its Wildfire Crisis Strategy to $930 million across 45 million acres.
“It is no longer a matter of if a wildfire will threaten many western communities in these landscapes, it is a matter of when,” said Vilsack. “The need to invest more and to move quickly is apparent.”
The additional 11 landscapes, located in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington State, were chosen because of the potential of wildfires to affect communities and buildings. Treatments must be ecologically appropriate, retain large trees as much as possible, protect old-growth forest, and consider the possible effects on historically underserved communities and tribes, said the USDA.
The Forest Service announced an initial 10 landscape projects last year. Together the work will mitigate wildfire risk to 200 communities in the West.
“We welcome the Biden Administration’s commitment to protect people and homes from wildfires while reaffirming the need to conserve our remaining mature and old-growth forests,” said the Sierra Club. “Today’s announcement is a positive step towards making our communities more resilient to the threat of wildfire.”