When it comes to funding wildfire mitigation projects in Arizona’s communities, it is challenging to stay abreast of State and Federal requirements, identify grant funding opportunities, and take advantage of multi-jurisdictional partnerships. AMRRP is working together with the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, the Governor’s Office, Senator Mark Kelly’s Office, the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, the County Supervisors Association of Arizona, the Arizona Fire District Association, and its Member Cities Globe, Flagstaff, Prescott, and Payson to learn the process and provide timely information to its Members.
Communities at Risk Data
The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management identifies the communities at greatest risk for catastrophic wildfires, for awareness and prioritization of resources. Knowing your community’s rating is helpful in prioritizing CWPP work and creating partnerships with other jurisdictions.
Grant Funding to Renew or Update a CWPP
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) enabled the Community Wildfire Defense Grant | US Forest Service (usda.gov) program. The program incentivizes communities to create their CWPPs or update them.
- $250,000 grants are available to create a CWPP
- Grants of up to $10,000,000 are available to fund approved CWPP projects
The USDA is currently accepting applications as outlined in the Notice of Funding Opportunity and Instructions (Western States and Territories) and Applicant Pre-Award Guide. AMRRP Members with any questions about the application may contact Program Administrator John Richardson, AZDFFM, at [email protected].
AMRRP has identified the Arizona Economic Recovery Center (AZERC) to assist its Rural Members. AZERC is a non-profit organization that can help Members win and implement competitive federal, state, municipal or foundation grants.
CWPP Resources
The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management approves CWPPS, and created the guidebook for developing a CWPP. Counties at greatest risk and currently prioritized by the AZ DFFM include Santa Cruz, Navajo, Pima, Cochise, Graham and Apache County.
While County Emergency Managers often take responsibility for CWPPs and work together with fire districts, cities, towns, etc. to build plans, some CWPPs are smaller in scope. The identification of projects in the CWPP signifies to granting bodies that projects are already approved by the community. CWPPs can take 8-12 months to complete which is secondary to the data collection, agreement to prioritization of projects/funding based on need, followed by stakeholder approval. Excellent plan examples include: Yuma CWPP, Pinal CWPP, and Yavapai CWPP.
Approved CWPP Projects’ Funding Opportunities
There are multiple grant funding-eligible projects for inclusion in CWPPs, some of which are listed below:
Arizona
Arizona HB 2001 passed in June 2021 provides $100 million to address wildfire risk.
- $25 million for the 2021 Arizona Healthy Forest Initiative
- Grants for hazardous vegetation removal
- Broadened Good Neighbor Authority for AZDFFM partnership with public agencies to conduct wildfire risk reduction projects with US Forest Service lands threatening state/private lands
- $36 M to fund mitigation projects to address post fire floods/damage occurring as a result of fire/suppression activities (distributed through County Emergency Managers)
- $10 Million financial assistance to public landowners for emergency infrastructure repairs for damage resulting from fires/fire suppression activities
Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management administers several grant programs throughout the state.
Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs – Division of Emergency Management administers Federal Hazard Mitigation Assistance HMA Grants, including the FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant. This supports the undertaking of hazard mitigation projects for local communities. Grants open 9/30/22 and close 1/27/23.
Federal
Federal Wildlife Grant Resources – pre-disaster Federal grant and cost-share programs available through USDA and FEMA.
