Montana/Dakotas Fuels Management & Community Fire Assistance Program Activities

Description

Project Description: The BLM Fuels Management and Community Fire Assistance program uses a risk-based approach that supports the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy goals of restoring and maintaining Fire Resilient Landscapes, Creating Fire Adapted Communities and Responding to Wildfire. This is to be accomplished by: 1. Planning and Implementing strategies to protect communities and infrastructure and to enhance, restore or maintain forest and rangeland plant communities, including habitats that are critical for special status species and other highly valued resources and assets where they are at risk from wildlfire. 2. Promoting public understanding and facilitating citizen-driven efforts to reduce the threat and impact of wildfire through community planning, education, mitigation, community assistance and fuels management on federal and non-federal land. 3. Fostering and promoting fuels management and community assistance coordination, cooperation, and partnerships with other federal, state, tribal, local government, non-government organizations, universities, and private entities. 4. Planning and implementing effective fuels treatment strategies that ensure resilient landscapes, emphasizes effectiveness as it relates to mitigating wildfire impacts and aids in wildfire management efforts. 5. Coordination with other landowners and cooperators to ensure fuels treatments are planned and implemented across landscapes. 6. Enhance local and small business employment opportunities. This program is in support of protecting the American family, being a good neighbor and creating a conservation stewardship legacy second only to Teddy Roosevelt by providing an opportunity to support planning and implementation of hazardous fuels reduction projects in Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) areas and education and outreach programs that help create fire adapted communities and resilient landscapes. Projects also support Secretarial Order 3372, Reducing Wildfire Risks on Department of the Interior Land through Active Management, intended to enhance the Department of the Interior's management of federal lands in order to: - Better protect people, communities, wildlife, habitat and watersheds by actively managing lands to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire; and - Promote the sustainable recovery of damaged lands. Expected Outcomes: 1. Accomplish Fuels Management Activities on federal and non-federal land. 2. Develop and implement fire education, training, and/or community action plans/programs 3. Conduct Community Wildfire Protection Assessment and planning activities 4. Expand community capability to enhance local employment opportunities 5. Develop and Implement short and long term Monitoring and Maintenance Plans. Public/BLM Benefits: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has an opportunity to work with partner organizations to assist with fuels management and community fire assistance program activities to reduce the risk and impact of catastrophic wildfires to local communities through coordination, reducing the amount of hazardous fuels, and furthering the education of landowners about wildfire prevention and mitigation.

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