Community Wildfire Defense Grant 2022 Tribes | USDA FS 2022 CWDG TRIBES

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA FS 2022 CWDG TRIBES

The Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) 2022 Tribes opportunity is a discretionary grant program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, designed to help at-risk communities and Indian Tribes reduce wildfire risk through better planning and on-the-ground mitigation. The program focuses on places where wildfire poses a serious and growing threat, especially communities located in the wildland urban interface (WUI), where homes, critical infrastructure, and public safety are closely tied to surrounding vegetation and wildfire behavior. The overall intent is practical and preventative: strengthen local and Tribal capacity to understand wildfire risk, plan effectively, and carry out projects that measurably lower the likelihood of catastrophic loss.

A key feature of this funding is its prioritization framework. The underlying authorizing law, Public Law 117-58 (the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, often called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law), directs the program to prioritize at-risk communities that meet one or more of three conditions: they are in areas identified as having high or very high wildfire hazard potential, they are low-income, and/or they have been impacted by a severe disaster. The specific definitions and how applicants should document these priorities are laid out in the program's Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs), which serve as the primary rulebook for demonstrating eligibility, scoring competitiveness, and meeting required planning standards.

The CWDG is also explicitly aligned with the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (the Cohesive Strategy), which is a nationwide framework for reducing wildfire risk across jurisdictions. The grant supports work that advances the Cohesive Strategy's three central goals. First, "Restore and Maintain Landscapes" emphasizes making forests, rangelands, and other fire-prone landscapes more resilient to fire-related disturbances through treatments and management approaches that reflect ecological and community objectives. Second, "Create Fire Adapted Communities" centers on helping residents, buildings, and infrastructure withstand wildfire with fewer losses, which can include steps that reduce structural ignitability and improve defensible space and evacuation readiness. Third, "Improve Wildfire Response" supports safer, more effective, and more coordinated decision-making across jurisdictions, recognizing that wildfire response often requires collaboration among Tribal, local, state, and federal partners.

Funding under this opportunity is organized around two primary project types. The first supports the development or revision of a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), which is the foundational planning document communities and Tribes use to assess wildfire hazards, identify values at risk, and set priorities for mitigation and preparedness. The second supports implementation projects that are already described in an existing CWPP, as long as that plan is less than ten years old. In practical terms, this means applicants can seek funds either to build or update the plan itself, or to carry out specific CWPP-identified actions such as fuel reduction and community protection measures that have already been vetted through a planning process.

This particular grant competition is identified as "USDA FS 2022 CWDG TRIBES" and is intended for Tribal applicants, including federally recognized Native American tribal governments and other Native American tribal organizations. The assistance is provided as a grant, and the eligible activity area is categorized under disaster prevention and relief and natural resources. The CFDA number associated with the program is 10.720. The opportunity was created on July 27, 2022, with an original application closing date of October 7, 2022. Awards were expected to be made to roughly 50 recipients, and the stated award ceiling was up to $10,000,000, indicating the program can support both smaller planning efforts and large-scale implementation projects depending on need, readiness, and the scope of the proposed work.

Overall, the CWDG 2022 Tribes opportunity is structured to move communities and Tribes from risk recognition to concrete action. It funds the core planning documents that guide wildfire mitigation and preparedness, and it also funds tangible projects that reduce wildfire exposure and improve safety, especially in high-risk and underserved areas. By tying eligibility and prioritization to hazard potential, income vulnerability, and disaster impacts, the program aims to concentrate resources where they can deliver the greatest protective benefit.

• The Department of Agriculture, Forest Service in the disaster prevention and relief, natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Community Wildfire Defense Grant 2022 Tribes" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.720.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jul 27, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Oct 07, 2022. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $10,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 50 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments).

Apply for USDA FS 2022 CWDG TRIBES

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