Kilmer Applauds $125,000 Federal Investment to Reduce Wildfire Risk in Clallam County
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Derek Kilmer (WA-06) and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack applauded an announcement from the U.S. Forest Service that it will commit $125,000 to create a new Clallam County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). The Community Wildfire Defense Grant program helps communities and others plan for and mitigate wildfire risks as the nation faces an ongoing wildfire crisis. Funds for the Program come from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, historic legislation Rep. Kilmer supported to invest in America’s infrastructure.
“Folks across Clallam County will soon be better protected from the threat of wildfires because of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” said Representative Kilmer. “This award from the U.S. Forest Service will ensure that communities in Clallam County are equipped with the tools to protect residents from these natural hazards. I’ll keep working to ensure that our region continues to get its fair share of federal dollars from the Infrastructure Law and other historic investments.”
“Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this initial round of investments from the Community Wildfire Defense Grant program is yet another way that the Biden-Harris Administration is taking crucial steps to make communities safer and protect critical infrastructure and natural resources from the threat of destructive wildfires,” said Secretary Vilsack. “These grants will help to ensure that local communities, especially low-income and tribal communities, have the tools they need to keep communities safe, and that we are working together in the right places and at the right scale to confront this crisis.”
The new Clallam County CWPP will involve community stakeholder outreach, education, and input. It will also include climate change analysis to predict wildfire risk and extensive hazard risk assessment to identify the transition zone between unoccupied land and human development (WUI) and neighborhoods with vulnerable populations that may face wildfire risk.
Along with establishing the Community Wildfire Defense Grant program, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides a historic $3.5 billion investment in wildfire management through programs aimed at reducing wildfire risks, detecting wildfires, instituting firefighter workforce reforms, and increasing pay for federal wildland firefighters.
# # #