Jan. 9 (UPI) — The Department of Interior on Tuesday announced what it called a “historic” investment of $138 million to help prevent wildfires and help areas affected by them.
The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis on Tuesday visited Boise, Idaho, to announce a $138 million investment — part of President Joe Biden‘s so-called Investing in America agenda — to support firefighters, reduce the risk of future wildfires and advance fire recovery.
The move comes less than a month after one study showed unhealthy air from wildfires is causing hundreds of additional deaths in the western United States every year.
“As climate change drives increasingly extreme wildfires across the nation, the Interior Department is expanding the nation’s preparedness to address wildfire activity while building climate resilience across landscapes and communities,” Daniel-Davis said.
The department is allocating $12.4 million of the $138 million to modernize fire training and position qualifications. More than 100 wildland fire positions will undergo a review to better support trainees and evaluators and strengthen performance-based training systems.
Another $7.5 million will aid in the restoration of landscape damaged by recent wildfires beyond the point in which they could naturally recover. Interior officials said the money will aid the wildland fire workforce, accelerate the pace and scale of fuels management and burned-area rehabilitation, and advance fire science used in fighting wildfires.
The Biden administration is “accelerating the pace and scale of efforts to reduce the risk of extreme wildfires and help affected areas recover,” according to the department.
The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law led to the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission, which makes recommendations to improve federal policies related to wildfire mitigation, suppression and management in the United States.
Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law gave the Interior Department $878 million for hazardous fuels management to protect vulnerable communities from wildfire while preparing natural landscapes for a changing climate; $325 million for post-fire restoration and rehabilitation activities; $245 million in investments in wildfire preparedness and $10 million to support science and research on wildland fire management issues that mitigate wildfire risk.
Additionally, the commission’s Sept. 2023 report outlined 148 recommendations to aid U.S. wildfire prevention efforts.