$400,000 in USDA Forest Service grants for wildfire impact on Hawaiʻi Island and Kauaʻi

Four Hawai‘i Island communities and and the Fire Department in Kaua‘i County are receiving more than $400,000 from the US Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, Community Wildfire Defense Grant Program.

It helps communities, tribes, nonprofit organizations, state forestry agencies and Alaska Native corporations plan for and mitigate wildfire risks as the country faces an ongoing wildfire crisis. 

The grants are part of a larger investment of $197 million by the USDA Forest Service in 100 project proposals benefiting 22 states and seven tribes. Proposals underwent a competitive selection process. 

The agency used three priorities to narrow down the communities in greatest need. These priorities included communities impacted by severe disaster, those with high or very high wildfire hazard potential or classified as low income. 

The funding for Hawai‘i will be used to update Community Wildfire Protection Plans in the following communities: 

• DLNR Division of Forestry & Wildlife, Northwest Hawai‘i CWPP Updates – $84,700
  This project will engage community and agency partners to collaboratively complete a revised hazard assessment, identify shared wildfire concerns, and begin prioritizing risk-reducing actions for purposes of updating a Community Wildfire Protection Plan from 2016. 
• DLNR Division of Forestry & Wildlife, South Kona CWPP Update – $84,700
  This project will engage community and agency partners to collaboratively complete a revised hazard assessment, identify shared wildfire concerns, and begin prioritizing risk-reducing actions for purposes of updating a Community Wildfire Protection Plan from 2015. 
• DLNR Division of Forestry & Wildlife, Kaʻū CWPP Update -$84,700
  This project will engage community and agency partners to collaboratively complete a revised hazard assessment, identify shared wildfire concerns, and begin prioritizing risk-reducing actions for purposes of updating a Community Wildfire Protection Plan from 2015. 
• DLNR Division of Forestry & Wildlife, Oceanview CWPP Update -$84,700
  This project will engage community and agency partners to collaboratively complete a revised hazard assessment, identify shared wildfire concerns, and begin prioritizing risk-reducing actions for purposes of updating a Community Wildfire Protection Plan from 2015. 
• Kaua‘i Fire Department, Updating a CWPP for Kaua‘i County – $78,000
  This project will engage community and agency partners to collaboratively complete a hazard assessment, identify shared wildfire concerns, and begin prioritizing risk-reducing actions for purposes of updating a Community Wildfire Protection Plan from 2016. 

“The DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife will assist these communities in updating their plans. As we experience climate change we’re seeing year-round wildfire activity in Hawai‘i,” said DOFAW State Protection Forester Mike Walker in a news release. 

DOFAW will work hand-in-hand with the Hawai‘i Wildfire Management Organization, which conducts hazard assessments and helps communities identify risks and ways to reduce them. 

HWMO Co-Executive Director Elizabeth Pickett said, “The development of CWPPs is a critical component of the process for communities to identify and then protect themselves from the destruction of wildfires. We look forward to working with the selected Hawai‘i Island communities in updating their plans.”