2024 CWSF/WFLC Spring Meeting

Mark your calendars! We are excited to announce that the 2024 Council of Western State Foresters (CWSF)/Western Forestry Leadership Coalition (WFLC) Spring Meeting will be May 21-23, 2024 in Fargo, North Dakota! 

Meeting details and registration information will be available soon.

In the coming weeks, CWSF will be listing a job posting and internship opportunity. Stay tuned for more information!

Position descriptions will be posted to https://www.westernforesters.org/about/join-our-team once available.

The CWSF Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) state forestry stories webpage was recently updated to include a story from the Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS). 

A CSFS and Bureau of Land Management Good Neighbor Authority Agreement utilizes BIL funding to improve forest health and resilience to wildfires and drought, and remove insect and disease-infested trees in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado.

If you are interested in submitting a BIL or IRA story, please contact Kelsey Delaney and Sara Goodwin.

The 2023 Pacific Islands Forestry Committee Workshop was recently highlighted in a feature story, “Caring for People and Protecting Forests in Hawai’i and the U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands”, authored by Hilary Clark, Public Affairs Specialist for the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station. The story details the significance of the gathering, agenda highlights, and the importance of forestry and conservation in the Pacific Islands.

Read “Caring for People and Protecting Forests in Hawai’i and the U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands". 

Hilary’s story references WFLC Director of Communication, Sara Goodwin’s work with the Pacific Islands to develop communications materials. This project, with support from the USDA Forest Service, brought forth the development of communications materials for each Pacific Island. The foundation of the project focused on using content and topics from the State Fact Sheets to build additional products and increase communications capacity for the islands. 

To view a sampling of the communications products created, visit https://bit.ly/pifc_comms. To learn more, contact Sara Goodwin.

Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) Program

The FY 2023 CWDG program opened for applications on July 31, 2023, and closed on November 4, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. The verification and scoring processes are currently ongoing. Thank you to those who submitted applications and those who helped applicants through the application process. For more information and to view the recordings from the applicant webinars, visit the CWSF CWDG webpage or the USDA Forest Service CWDG webpage. 

If you have any CWDG questions, please contact Halie Miyazawa.

Landscape Scale Restoration (LSR) Competitive Grant Program

The FY 2024 LSR Competitive Grant Program is now officially closed. Applications were evaluated during the scoring period, which ended on January 23, 2024. Recommendations have been reviewed by the WFLC Executive Board, and the ranked project list will be sent to the Washington Office by February 28. For more information, visit the WFLC LSR webpage.

If you have any LSR questions, please contact Leena Visnak. 

Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Grant Program

The FY 2024 Competitive Grant Program is now officially closed. Applications are being evaluated during the scoring period, which opened on January 23 and will end on March 1, 2024. A ranked project list will then be compiled and sent to CWSF’s Executive Board for approval. For more information, visit the CWSF WUI webpage.

If you have any WUI questions, please contact Leena Visnak. 

Looking for a job opportunity in forestry? Find your next position in western forestry on the CWSF job blog.

If you would like to submit a job posting, please contact Patricia Payne. 

See the calendar of meetings and events hosted by CWSF/WFLC and partner organizations.

The National Association of State Foresters, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the National Fire Protection Association, and the USDA Forest Service have named the recipients of the 2024 Wildfire Mitigation Awards (WMA) in recognition of their exemplary commitment to community wildfire risk reduction. This year’s WMA recipients come from Boulder County, Colorado, and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Learn more.