Competitive Grant Opportunities in the West
Written by Halie Miyazawa and Leena Visnak
The Council of Western State Foresters (CWSF) and the Western Forestry Leadership Coalition (WFLC) assist with multiple forestry-related grant programs in the Western region. The Wildland Urban Interface (WUI), Community Wildfire Defense Grants (CWDG), and Landscape Scale Restoration (LSR) are three main grant opportunities that CWSF/WFLC staff help program managers and applicants learn about program updates and apply for the grant programs.
Western Urban Interface (WUI)
The State Fire Assistance (SFA) WUI competitive grant program assists with reducing hazardous fuels and restoring fire-adapted ecosystems, improving prevention education, and planning Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP).
The FY2025 grant program opened for applications on September 13, 2024, and will close on December 20, 2024.
More information about the WUI grant program can be found on the CWSF WUI webpage.
Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG)
CWDG is a national competitive grant program that assists at-risk communities in developing or creating a CWPP and/or implementing a project described in the community’s already existing CWPP. The grant focuses on three key priority areas: does the project benefit a low-income community, is it in an area of high or very high wildfire hazard potential, and has the community been impacted by a severe disaster?
The round 3 timeline is being determined and has not been announced yet. More information can be found on the Forest Service CWDG webpage and the CWSF CWDG webpage.
Landscape Scale Restoration (LSR)
The LSR competitive grant program supports high-impact projects that promote collaborative, science-based restoration of priority forest landscapes, leverage public and private resources, and advance priorities identified in a State Forest Action Plan or other restoration strategy. The objective of the grant is to focus on activities that address priority areas, challenges, and opportunities.
The FY2025 grant program opened for applications on August 12, 2024, and will close for applications on November 15, 2024.
More information can be found on the WFLC LSR webpage.
Grant Resources
- Community Navigators Initiative - Learn more in a recent blog post with Thérèse d’Auria Ryley from Coalitions and Collaboratives Inc. to answer commonly asked questions about the Community Navigators Initiative.
- The grant point of contact (POC) for each state is a great place to start for the grant programs. The POC can provide additional information about the program and application process. Contact information for POCs can be found in the Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFO) and/or guidance documents.
A Look Back
Last year, the three grant programs mentioned above, funded over 150 projects for over $80 million dollars in the Western region.
WUI
- 71 eligible applications were submitted requesting $19,774,225.
- The Western region awarded 48 of the applications for a total of $13,243,850. The list of the funded projects for the Western region can be found on the CWSF WUI webpage.
CWDG
- 361 applications from the West were submitted of the 535 applications that were submitted nationally. The total amount of funding requested was over $965 million.
- Nationally, the program funded 158 applications for $250 million and the Western region funded 93 applications for about $64 million. A full list of the projects funded across the nation can be found on the Forest Service CWDG webpage.
LSR
- 25 eligible applications were submitted requesting $7,144,342.
- The Western region fully funded 11 applications and partially funded 4 applications for a total of $3,849,075. The list of funded projects for the Western region can be found on the WFLC LSR webpage. A full list of the projects funded across the nation can be found on the Forest Service LSR webpage.
Contact
For WUI and LSR questions, please contact Leena Visnak, Competitive Grants Manager.
For CWDG questions, please contact Halie Miyazawa, Competitive Grants Manager.