Federal Wildfire Grant Opportunities Open For Hawaii
Three grants are now available to help Hawaii’s landowners fortify their wildfire defenses.
Landowners now have a chance to get a piece of federal funding to help fight fire risk and restore landscapes across Hawaii.
The application window is open for three grant programs attacking different facets of Hawaii’s wildfire issue: landscape-scale restoration, community wildfire defense, and the wildland-urban Interface.
Federal funding from the U.S. Forest Service will be administered by Hawaii’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife, which falls under the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Landscape-scale restoration grants will apply to priority areas and topics that fall under the and will also be worth up to $300,000. Grant applications must address the risk of wildfire, improve wildlife habitats or mitigate invasive species, among others. Applications will be accepted until Oct. 16.
The Community Wildfire Defense grants will fund up to $250,000 to update and revise community wildfire protection plans, and projects that stem from those plans can receive up to $10 million. Applications close Oct. 21.
For projects that fall under the Community Wildfire Defense grants, the community protection plans must be less than 10 years old.
All of Hawaii’s counties received funding from the U.S. Forest Service in March to update their community protection plans, amounting to about $420,000.
Hawaii’s community plans were last updated up to eight years ago.
Meanwhile, the up-to $300,000 Wildland-Urban Interface grants will be open until Jan. 5 and are intended to fund vegetation and fire fuels management, assessment and planning, education and wildfire monitoring.
