Hawaii Wildfire Defense Plans Gain Federal Funds
Local plans were last updated 8 years ago.
Hawaii will receive close to $420,000 in federal funds to update wildfire defense plans, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday.
Five projects on Big Island and Kauai will receive funds as part of the USDA’s , to update wildfire protection plans that were last updated up to eight years ago.
The funds were announced as part of a U.S. Forest Service package funding 100 project proposals across 22 states and seven tribal communities, as part of its first round of funding under the $1 billion program.
Hawaii has faced years of drought and subsequent wildfire risk, fueled by climate change and a decline in agriculture, an issue that is expected to spread as the effects take hold of typically less-wildfire prone regions.
Hawaii’s funded proposals include $84,700 each for South Kona, Oceanview, Kau and Northwest Hawaii, which will be used by the Department of Land and Natural Resources to update each area’s wildfire protection plans.
Kauai Fire Department will receive $78,000 to update Kauai County’s protection plan.
鈥淭hese grants will help to ensure that local communities, especially low-income and tribal communities, have the tools they need to keep communities safe, and that we are working together in the right places and at the right scale to confront this crisis.鈥 Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.
The program funding comes under 2021’s Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, included $7 billion in funding to enhance the country’s protections and response to wildfires.
“Hawaii Grown” is funded in part by grants from the Stupski Foundation, Ulupono Fund at the Hawaii Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation.
