The Southwest Idaho All-Lands Partnership recently won a $20.7 million grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS’s) Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). This award provides critical resources to support the Partnership’s goal of working collaboratively with public and private landowners, communities, public agencies, private companies, and non-profit organizations to establish and sustain wildfire- resilient landscapes. The National Forest Foundation (NFF) will administer the grant, working with the Partnership to treat high- priority private forestlands across the region.
“Wildfires have become more common across the West over the past few decades, so the work and resources we put into wildfire mitigation has grown. This grant, plus the money the rest of us chipped in, will go a long way to furthering that mission.”
Idaho Power, the Idaho Department of Lands, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Forest Foundation, Boise County, Valley County, and the Wilderness Ranch Owners Association have pledged an additional $27.1-million to this effort for a total of $47.8-million in funding and volunteer time.
The NFF will create a cost-share fund for the Partnership. The fund will support technical assistance and financial resources for private landowners to remove vegetation and improve community wildfire resilience. Work will begin in Spring 2025 and continue through Spring 2031. It will treat up to 10,000 acres of private, non-industrial forestland in high-risk priority areas. This program is a major step in a concentrated effort to increase the pace and scale of wildfire resilience work in Southwest Idaho to protect our resources, water, communities, and livelihoods.
The Partnership will work directly with forest landowners to maximize the effectiveness of forest treatments and enhance the benefits of work being of other partners and agencies. Visit the All Lands Partnership webpage for more information.
For questions about the All Lands Partnership or to be added to the general mailing list, contact Ford Van Fossan at [email protected].
Header photo by Dave Walsh
