Division of Forestry and Wildlife: Forestry Program

Wildland Urban Interface Grant Program

USDA Forest Service funds to mitigate risk from wildland fire within the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) are available and awarded annually through a competitive process with emphasis on:

• hazard fuel reduction in the WUI;
• information and education;
• assessment and planning; and
• monitoring through community and landowner action.

Projects that DO NOT qualify include suppression capacity building, such as the purchase of fire department equipment. Applications must describe how the project connects with the goals of the Hawaii Forest Action Plan and a Community Wildfire Protection Plan.

WUI grant applications are due 12/20/24. For more information, see:

• Western WUI Grant Instructions to States: Pacific Islands FY25
• FY 2025 WUI WSFM Process Manual with appendices
• FY 2025 Western WUI Grant Application
• Western Wildfire Risk Assessment (WWRA) Grant Instructions to States.Pacific Islands FY25
• WWRA Grant Application FY2025

Community Wildfire Defense Grant Program

Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) program is not currently open for applications. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided $1 billion over five years for the CWDG program to provide grants to at-risk communities to develop or revise a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) or implement projects in a CWPP that is less than ten years old. 

CWDG prioritizes at-risk communities in an area identified as having high or very high wildfire hazard potential, are low-income, and/or have been impacted by a severe disaster. The 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.

Prospective applicants should contact Michael Walker at [email protected]  for more information. Additional information on this program can be found at: 

• Forest Service CWDG webpage;
• Council of Western State Foresters CWDG webpage;
• Western and Tribal NOFOs are available on grants.gov;
• Wildfirerisk.org Eligibility and Prioritization Data; and
• Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network CWDG Primer: Preparing to Apply for Community Wildfire Defense Grants.