Division of Forestry and Wildlife

The Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) Program is offering funding to assist communities to prevent, plan, and mitigate for wildfire risks.

Grants prioritize communities in areas identified as having high or very high wildfire hazard potential, are low-income, and/or have been impacted by a severe disaster. Submittals will be received up to 12:00 PM HST on October 21, 2023.

The CWDG Program is anchored in the three goals of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management 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.

The grants are intended to help at-risk communities become better prepared and more resilient to wildfire risks. For Hawai‘i, where over the past decade greater than 1,000 wildfires have burned an average of more than 17,000-acres each year, and where the wildfire season is year-round, this opportunity can help communities across the state.

Applicants can contact Michael Walker at [email protected] for more information.

For full details, view the Request for Interest on the Hawaii Awards & Notices Data System (ehawaii.gov)