September 12, 2024 2:50 a.m.
Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden have announced that $9.4 million is coming to Oregon to reduce wildfire threats in high-risk areas across the state.
This includes a project in Douglas County.
A release said the U.S. Department of Agriculture is directly investing $9,422,722 in three of Oregon’s national forest to treat areas of high wildfire risk where forests and grasslands meet homes and communities. This funding is part of the USDA Forest Service’s Collaborative Wildfire Risk Reduction Program, which enables national forests – in collaboration with Tribes, communities and partners – to reduce wildfire risk for communities, critical infrastructure and natural resources.
Merkley said, “Oregonians know all too well the threat of climate chaos, which is fueling increasingly frequent and severe wildfires that threaten our homes, businesses, and way of life”. Merkley serves as chair of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the Forest Service.
Wyden said, “With a record amount of acreage in Oregon already burned this year by wildfires, this fresh federal investment to reduce the risk of future blazes is welcome news”.
The release said these federal funds support new and expanded efforts under the Forest Service’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy to invest $100 million across 14 states and 21 projects, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act. Information about the Oregon projects:
*$4.89 million for the Umpqua National Forest’s Elk Tribal and Community Healthy Forest Restoration Project. This project will restore forest health using prescribed fire and construct strategic fuel breaks in the Elk Creek Watershed of the UNF. Building on an existing collaboration between the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians and the Forest Service, this project will continue ecosystem restoration efforts while expanding collaboration with the Tribe, the Oregon Department of Forestry and other partners.
*$4.4 million for the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest’s Grayback Creek Watershed Ecological Restoration and Wildfire Risk Restoration Project.
*$132,722 for the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest’s Sufferin Heritage Surveys.