December 15, 2022 - Sacramento – The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) announced the availability of up to $240 million for Wildfire Prevention and Forest Health grant projects. CAL FIRE is soliciting applications for projects that prevent catastrophic wildfires, protect communities, and restore forests to healthy, functioning ecosystems while also sequestering carbon and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

CAL FIRE’s Wildfire Prevention Grants Program seeks to award up to $120 million for local projects in and near fire threatened communities that focus on increasing the protection of people, structures, and communities. Qualified activities include hazardous fuels reduction, wildfire prevention planning and wildfire prevention education with an emphasis on improving public health and safety while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

CAL FIRE’s Forest Health Grant Program will award up to $120 million to landscape scale forest restoration projects that restore forest resilience to catastrophic disturbance. Eligible activities include forest fuels reduction, fire reintroduction, reforestation, and utilization of forest biomass. An additional $50 million is available for post fire reforestation and restoration and finally $19 million is available for Tribal Wildfire Resilience planning and implementation projects.

Wildfire Prevention and Forest Health grant programs are part of California Climate Investments, a statewide program that puts billions of cap-and-trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment – particularly in disadvantaged communities.

These programs are designed to complement the 2018 Strategic Fire Plan for California, the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force Action Plan, and the Natural and Working Lands Climate Smart Strategy, which proposes to protect lives, property, and resources of California and increase the ability of our natural and working lands to survive and mitigate the effects of climate change.

Official Call for Applications:
Wildfire Prevention Grants Program: The call for applications opens on December 14, 2022. Applications are due by 3:00 PM on March 15, 2023.
Forest Health Grants Program: The call for applications opens on December 15, 2022. Applications are due by 3:00 PM on February 28, 2023.

Public workshops will be held both in-person and virtually. Please check the Wildfire Prevention Grants web pages for dates, times, and locations. These workshops will be recorded and made available on the corresponding grants web pages. Forest Health program will only release a recorded workshop.

For more information and to sign up for grant email announcements, visit www.fire.ca.gov/grants.

Source: CAL FIRE