Jason Kuiken, the Deputy Team Leader for the Wildfire Risk Reduction Infrastructure Team with the U.S. Forest Service spoke about how the resources within the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs act will be made available to help communities complete projects across ownership boundaries. “We’ve identified a need to treat up to an additional 20 million acres on national forest system lands, another 30 million state, tribal and private lands in the next 10 years, including figure out a way to maintain those acres that have been treated,” he said. “That means we’re going to have to stretch our minds in terms of what’s possible.” 

Craig Foss, State Forester, Idaho Department of Lands spoke about the success his state has had completing fire mitigation projects using Shared Stewardship Agreements and Good Neighbor Authority, as well as strategies for getting the private sector involved in the process. “This isn’t something new. It’s not like we’re all going to have to ramp and figure out where we should be working on the landscape. We’ve been working towards this for many years [though the development of State Forest Action Plans],” he said. “Success is not going to be achieved by treating all of the acres that need treating, but the right acres.”     

Kacey KC, the State Forester Firewarden for the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources spoke about the need for state forestry agencies to expand partnerships not only as a way to treat more acres, but also as a way to better engage the public. “As forest agencies, we have to look to different partnerships,” she said. “We’ve made a big partnership here in the state of Nevada with NV Energy, our energy producer, to make fuel breaks for communities, and/or sage grouse habitat, and/or ranching production … but we’ve also been working very closely with hospitals, and air quality workers, something I don’t think I ever would have said 20 years ago, to figure out how we educate the population on air quality impact and the minimal impacts of prescribed fire as compared to wildfire.”        

Nick Goulette, the Executive Director of the Watershed Research & Training Center spoke about the opportunities within the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to help community organizations secure stable, long-term funding and retain employees. “It’s going to be interesting how IIJA can facilitate long-term planning horizons for all of these community-based organization partners,” he said. “Disaster relief and fire spending can leverage that help us see pathways to building a sustainable workforce and business models so that we can bring everything we can to the table.”    

Implementing Forest Investments in the Infrastructure Bill was the third webinar in a four-part series for Idaho Gov. Brad Little’s WGA Chair Initiative, Working Lands, Working Communities, which is examining the interdependent relationship between western communities and natural resource management entities, as well as the role that local communities play in successful land planning and management processes.

Find more information about the final webinar in the series, Invasive Annual Grasses, and register here.