The Department of Agriculture is putting $9.8 million toward wildfire crisis mitigation in the Kootenai National Forest through the U.S. Forest Service’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy.

The money is part of a larger package coming from Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds. 

The department is allocating nearly $500 million to wildfire mitigation efforts, including $400 million for ongoing efforts on 21 priority landscapes, areas demarcated by Forest Service officials to track legislative spending. An additional $100 million is going toward tribes, communities and partners who are a part of the New Collaborative Wildfire Risk Reduction Program to treat areas outside of the priority landscapes. 

“Through this critical funding and work, the USDA Forest Service has had a significant economic impact on our local communities by investing in partnerships, providing certainty to local contractors and adding workforce capacity in the shared stewardship of our National Forests to reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfire,” said Kootenai National Forest Supervisor Chad Benson in a statement.

The Kootenai Complex was designated as a priority landscape in 2022. At the time, the agency’s goal was to implement 7,200 acres of hazardous fuels reduction treatments with a planned, original budget of just over $19 million by 2024, according to the Forest Service. 

Funds were first secured for the Kootenai Complex in the summer of 2022 and 990 acres of treatments were completed. In 2023, 7,558 acres were treated, surpassing the goal using only $9 million of the planned budget. 

An additional 10,000 acres were treated last year using Congressionally-appropriated operating funds, bringing the total to 17,274 acres in 2023. 

In 2024, the agency intends to treat over 10,000 acres using the awarded money.

Sen. Jon Tester boasted about the funding in a recent press release, saying that it's essential that the Forest Service has the tools and resources they need to effectively and efficiently protect land and communities. Tester was the sole member of Montana’s congressional delegation to support the massive infrastructure bill, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021.

“When wildfires hit, it’s families, businesses, homes, and land that pay the price, and we’ve got to do whatever we can to protect our communities and mitigate damage — particularly as our fire seasons have grown longer and more dangerous,” said Tester in a Feb. 20 press release.  

The Forest Service’s Northern Region includes two specified Wildfire Crisis Strategy Priority Landscapes, including the Kootenai Complex on the Kootenai and Idaho Panhandle National Forests. The other landscape, the Lower Salmon landscape on the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest, was designated as such in 2023.

Reporter Kate Heston can be reached at kheston@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.