The 2023 Council of Western State Foresters (CWSF)/Western Forestry Leadership Coalition (WFLC) Fall Meeting is just around the corner! This year’s meeting is November 28-30, 2023, in Waikoloa, Hawai‘i. Registered attendees will receive additional meeting information next week.

Please contact Patricia Payne with any questions.

Executive Director Danielle Okst attended the recent 2023 Winter Meeting of the Western Governors' Association, hosted by Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Nevada State Forester Kacey KC presented on the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission Report alongside Joan Mooney, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Management and Budget at the U.S. Department of the Interior, Nicole LaRosa, Program Analyst for the U.S. Fire Administration, and Christine Dawe, Senior Policy Advisor for Natural Resources and Environment, USDA. The group discussed the value of getting consensus from the 50-member panel on the 148 policy recommendations put forward in the report given the wide-range of sectors represented and the need to implement solutions to meet the current challenges faced from this wildfire crisis, particularly in the West.   

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack highlighted their agency priorities and vision for the future during their sessions and additional dialogue during the meeting included topics such as carbon capture, utilization, and storage technologies, wildlife migration corridors, and infrastructure permitting.

Learn more about the meeting.

This month’s policy update highlights a new Memorandum of Understanding between the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recent policy resolutions passed by the Western Governors' Association, and the latest information on fiscal year (FY) 2024 Appropriations.

GNA Spotlight from Idaho

A Good Neighbor Authority project between the Idaho Department of Lands and the Sandpoint Ranger District helped to prevent the spread of a human-caused wildfire.

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 process opened for applications on August 21, 2023, and will close on November 17, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. Mountain Time. A recording of our applicant webinar can be found on our WFLC LSR webpage.

For more information about the FY 2024 LSR Grant Process, check out our WFLC blog post. 

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

Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Grant Program

The FY 2024 application process opened on October 12, 2023, and will close on January 18, 2024. The FY 2023 recommendation letter is available to view on our website. For more information, visit the CWSF WUI webpage.

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

Danny McBride

This month, we are pleased to feature Danny McBride, Director of State, Private, and Tribal Forestry for the USDA Forest Service Intermountain and Northern Regions.

We invite you to meet Danny!

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.