The second round of funding for the federal Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) program is open through Oct. 31, 2023.
A total of $1 billion is available over a five-year period through the Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act, Section 40803(f) that awards grants to at-risk communities to develop or revise a community wildfire protection plan; and carry out projects from current community wildfire protection plans not more than 10 years old.
Individual grants will fund up to $250,000 to create and update community wildfire protection plans or conduct outreach and education, and up to $10 million for associated infrastructure and resilience projects. The Village of Aniak received $217,038 to complete a Community Wildfire Protection Plan in the first round of funding earlier this year.
“To support additional wildland fire mitigation in at-risk communities, the State of Alaska opted in to the CWDG program to allow local applicants the maximum resources and assistance from the Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection,” said Norm McDonald, Chief of Fire and Aviation. “The division encourages eligible communities and organizations to take advantage of this funding opportunity and apply.”
For more information about the DWDG grants in Alaska, communities may visit http://forestry.alaska.gov/fire/cwdgrants or inquire directly for application instructions.
