Last week, the USDA laid out its plan to address the worsening threat of wildfires over the next decade. Specifically, 20 million acres in the National Forest System and an additional 30 million acres of federal, state, tribal and private lands are projected to be treated with preventative efforts like pruning and prescribed burns in the Pacific Northwest, the Sierra Nevada Range in California, the Front Range in Colorado and the Southwest.
The new measures are largely funded from the bipartisan infrastructure law that President Joe Biden signed in November. That package included $3.3 billion for the Forest Service and Interior Department for wildfire mitigation and firefighting resources along with $45 million annually for five years to carry out rehabilitation programs in burned areas.