Deadline: 7-Oct-22
The Forest Service is accepting applications for its Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) 2022 Northeast-Midwest to assist at-risk local communities and Indian Tribes with planning and mitigating against the risk created by wildfire.
The CWDG helps communities in the wildland urban interface (WUI) implement the three goals of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (Cohesive Strategy):
- Restore and Maintain Landscapes: Landscapes across all jurisdictions are resilient to fire-related disturbances, in accordance with management objectives.
- Create Fire Adapted Communities: Human populations and infrastructure can withstand a wildfire without loss of life and property.
- Improve Wildfire Response: All jurisdictions participate in making and implementing safe, effective, efficient risk-based wildfire management decisions.
Project Objectives
- A project proposal must advance objectives and priorities identified in a community wildfire protection plan that is not more than 10 years old.
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A project proposal must be designed to achieve one or more of the following objectives:
- Assist a community with planning to address management of wildfire risk.
- Assist a community with mitigation measures or actions to reduce wildfire risk.
Projects to be Given Priority
- Applicants will have the responsibility to indicate on the application if they meet any or all of the three priorities.
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The applicant will also need to provide supporting documentation or a link to such documentation for each priority that is checked. Priority will be given to project proposals that:
- Are located in an area identified as having a high or very high wildfire hazard potential;
- Benefit a low-income community; or
- Are located in a community impacted by a severe disaster within the previous 10 years.
Funding Information
- There is no minimum Federal funding limit for projects under CWDG.
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The maximum amount of Federal funding awarded to any one community or Tribe via this competitive process is:
- $250,000 for the creation or updating of a Community Wildfire Protection Plan, and
- $10 million for a project described within a Community Wildfire Protection Plan less than 10 years old.
- For planning purposes, the Federal funding allocated through the CWDG competitive process is expected to be approximately $160 million annually for the next five years.
Eligibility Criteria
- This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is for projects that will be carried out within the footprint of the Northeast-Midwest States (Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin) and the District of Columbia.
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The following entities are eligible to submit a project proposal for funding:
- Units of local governments representing communities located in an area with a risk of wildfires,
- Indian Tribes (please apply through either the Indian Tribes/Alaska Native Corporations specific notice or the applicable regional notice),
- Non-profit organizations such as homeowner associations that assist such communities,
- State forestry agencies, and
- Alaska Native Corporations (please apply through the either Indian Tribes/Alaska Native Corporations specific notice or the applicable regional notice).
- For-profit entities are not eligible to apply for a grant under this program.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=342635