Montana will get more than $8 million from the federal government this year for additional work to prevent destructive wildfires. The Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Interior Department made that announcement in western Montana on Wednesday as part of the Biden Administration’s efforts to tout recent policy investments.
A series of homes dot the Potomac Valley in an area fire experts call the ‘wildland urban interface’; places at high risk of burning during a wildfire.
The Blackfoot-Clark Fork Restoration landscape project aimed at reducing that risk is one example of one effort that will be supported by new federal funding.
Deputy Secretary of the Interior Tommy Beaudreau spoke on the matter.
“Folks have known what’s needed to happen for a long, long time. They’ve had the projects in mind, they know what the landscape needs. What's always been missing or what has to be cobbled together and scrambled and, you know, financed has been the resources, the money and the people to do it,” Beaudreau said.
The funding comes from two massive spending bills passed by Congress and backed by the Biden Administration in recent years - the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.
Beaudreau said $200 million has been set aside for nationwide wildfire management activities this year.
Wednesday’s announcement includes funding for special pay supplements, training for wildland firefighters, collaborative fuels management and burned area rehabilitation activities.
