Ian Brickey, ian.brickey@sierraclub.org
PHOENIX – Today, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the Department’s next steps in implementing the national Wildfire Crisis Strategy. They include expanded efforts to reduce wildfire risks across the Western United States, focusing on 11 sites in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington State.
Funding for the projects supported under the strategy comes from President Biden’s signature Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provided $1.4 billion to date to implement investments on 10 sites across eight states in the West, and the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Wildfire Crisis Strategy calls for the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to work with other federal agencies, Tribal Nations, states and communities, private landowners, and others to implement fuels and forest health treatments, focusing on scientifically identified “firesheds” – high-risk areas that could expose communities, natural resources, and infrastructure to wildfire.
In response, Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program director Athan Manuel, released the following statement:
“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. Today’s announcement is a positive step towards making our communities more resilient to the threat of wildfire.
“Climate change has increased the risk of unnaturally large and more frequent and dangerous fires, increased the length of fire season, and put more of our communities at risk. It is critical that we address this challenge while also recognizing the value of nature-based solutions to taking on the climate crisis, as the president did in his executive order to protect mature and old-growth forests.
“We must pursue fire-smart policies, and we applaud the Biden Administration's efforts to make structures fire safe, create adequate defensible space around structures, establish strategic fuel breaks, and other tactics that preserve forests, protect communities, and tackle the climate crisis."
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.