Community Wildfire Defense Grant 2024 (FY25) Northeast-Midwest

This announcement contains the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)/Instructions. To apply after reading the NOFO, visit the application portal at cwdg.forestrygrants.org.

The purpose of the Community Wildfire Defense Grant is to assist at-risk local communities and Indian Tribes with planning and mitigating against the risk created by wildfire.   

The Act 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. More details on these three priorities can be found in the Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs).  

The CWDG helps communities in the wildland urban interface (WUI) implement the three goals of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (Cohesive Strategy): 

• Restore and Maintain Landscapes: Landscapes, regardless of jurisdictional boundaries, are resilient to fire, insect, disease, invasive species, and climate change disturbances, in accordance with management objectives. 
• Create Fire Adapted Communities: Human populations and infrastructure are as prepared as possible to receive, respond to, and recover from wildland fire. 
• Improve Wildfire Response: All jurisdictions participate in making and implementing safe, effective, efficient risk-based wildfire management decisions. 

This program is authorized in Public Law 117-58, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, commonly referred to as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). 

There are two primary project types for which the grant provides funding:  

• The development and revision of Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP) 
• The implementation of projects described in a CWPP that is less than ten years old 

Applicant Webinars for CWDG Round 3 have been scheduled as follows. The application process in Round 3 is the same for all applicants. Any applicant in any region, area, or Tribe may attend any webinar, they will all have the same content, however, the December 4th webinar will be more focused on Tribal applications and Tribal application Q&A.

This information will also be on the Forest Service CWDG website, link below.

To attend a webinar, please register in advance by clicking on the link following each date:

Monday, December 2nd, 2pm-4pm Eastern

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6-i032QISWGJhNKj6g-UyA

Wednesday, December 4th, 12:30pm-2:30pm Eastern (Tribal focused)

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_C6N_tnRGSwSgbZU0CFifrQ

Friday, December 6th, 2pm-4pm Eastern

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Jnadv39gSPKwBv9qYqeAGQ

Applicant Webinar recordings will be made available soon after the webinars for those unable to attend one of the live offerings, check back on the Forest Service CWDG website for recordings.

In addition to the webinars above, the Forest Service will be offering periodic "office hours" for applicants throughout the application period. Please visit the CWDG website below for dates and times.