Bill targets bolstered wildfire protections

U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Steve Daines (R-MT) recently introduced the Community Wildfire Protection Act to enable greater wildfire protections.

“Climate change is putting more and more communities in the path of deadly wildfires,” Feinstein said. “Unfortunately, a more than two-decade-old list – which was flawed when it was created – determines which California communities may receive federal funds to reduce the threat of deadly wildfires. Our bill fixes that by ensuring that any community threatened by dangerous wildfires would be eligible for federal grants to improve their wildfire resiliency and by expediting the implementation of those projects.”

The lawmakers noted present limits on federal grants eligibility to communities adjacent to federal lands or those listed in an outdated notice in the Federal Register from 2001. The bill amends the Healthy Forests Restoration Act’s definition of an at-risk community to include any community at high risk for wildfire significantly threatening human life and property.

The legislation expands federal wildfire mitigation grants access to include developing and implementing Community Wildfire Protection Plans, allowing state, local and tribal governments to work with the federal government to reduce hazardous fuels in surrounding forests.

Officials said the measure is supported by the National Association of Counties, Rural County Representatives of California, National Association of State Foresters, Pacific Forest Trust, and the California Fire Safe Council.