CONFRONTING THE WILDFIRE CRISIS

Update on the National Strategy for Protecting Communities 

and Improving Resilience in America’s Forests

Forest Service

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

WILDFIRE CRISIS

update

 FS-1187e | November 2022
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest 

Service announced a new Wildfire Crisis Strategy in 

January 2022. This strategy builds on previous wildfire risk 

reduction work, including the National Fire Plan and the 

National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy.

The Nation faces a growing wildfire crisis as a result 

of numerous factors, including accumulating fuels, a 

warming climate, and expanding development in fireprone landscapes. To address this crisis, the strategy set a 

10-year goal of treating up to an additional 50 million acres 

on high-risk firesheds—up to 20 million acres on National 

Forest System (NFS) lands and up to 30 million acres on 

other ownerships.

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 Since that initial announcement, the 

agency refined its focus to 250 firesheds on NFS lands in 

the West that present the highest risk to communities and 

critical infrastructure. 

In April, the agency announced 10 landscapes to receive 

an investment of $131 million in fiscal year 2022 from the 

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Passage of the infrastructure 

law in November 2021 provided an important down 

payment toward this critical work. The selected landscapes 

contain 68 high-risk firesheds and 13 million acres where 

the agency is applying the funds to existing projects. 

1. In recent years, the Forest Service has treated up to 2 million

 acres per year.

WHERE WE 

STAND

Firefighters monitor the control line 

during a prescribed burn. The burn was 

part of landscape-scale forest treatment 

efforts in southwest Idaho. USDA Forest 

Service photo by Dave Walsh.

FIRESHEDS

Firesheds are large forested landscapes and rangelands with a

high likelihood that an ignition could expose homes, communities, and

infrastructure to wildfire. Firesheds, typically about 250,000 acres in size,

are mapped to match the scale of community exposure to wildfire.
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The Forest Service’s 10-year strategy calls for dramatically 

increasing forest management activities, including forest 

thinning and the safe and effective use of prescribed fire, to 

reduce fuels and restore forest health. Under the strategy, the 

agency is working with partners to focus on fuels and forest 

health treatments at the scale of the problem, using the best 

available science as a guide. 

Forest Service models were used to identify firesheds at risk 

and contributed to the fireshed prioritization, planning, 

and investment effort. Scientific research also guides 

treatments of firesheds, including mechanical thinning, 

prescribed burning, and continued maintenance, to reduce 

risk over time. As a result, the Forest Service estimates that 

of the high-risk firesheds in the West, between 5.6 and 11.2 

million acres of NFS land requires some level of immediate 

treatment. 

Working with partners, the Forest Service is introducing a 

new land management paradigm that builds on the National 

Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy. The Cohesive 

Strategy, along with shared stewardship agreements, 

establish a framework for treating landscapes collaboratively 

across ownership boundaries. This foundation blends with 

the Wildfire Crisis Strategy to help the Forest Service adapt 

lessons learned from past fuels and forest health treatments. 

The Forest Service created a national team that worked with 

other Federal, State, Tribal, local, and private partners to 

craft a 10-year implementation plan for the Wildfire Crisis 

Strategy. The plan is a blueprint for executing the strategy 

through partnerships, and is based on peer-reviewed 

research and a framework for collaboration established over 

the past 20 years.

A STRATEGY

FOR COMBATING 

THE CRISIS

Prescribed burn operations at the 

Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area 

on the Siuslaw National Forest. USDA 

Forest Service photo.

“The National Association of State Foresters is 

proud to have worked closely with the USDA 

Forest Service in developing a long-range plan to 

protect, conserve, and enhance America’s forested 

landscapes most threatened by catastrophic 

wildfire. The 10-year Wildfire Crisis Strategy 

represents a huge step forward toward safer, 

more fire-resilient forests and communities in 

every region of the United States. It provides a 

phased approach for reducing wildfire risk in our 

communities, watersheds, and recreational areas 

nationwide, all while boosting the health and 

resilience of America’s forested landscapes.

”

Kacey KC

National Association of State Foresters President

and Nevada State Forester
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The unprecedented level of wildfire risk facing the Nation, 

especially in the West, calls for an unprecedented scale of fuels 

and forest health treatments. The Forest Service is expanding 

existing relationships and creating new partnerships with 

Federal, Tribal, State, local, nonprofit, and other groups. 

Working together, we will have a collective impact through 

multijurisdictional coalitions and making investments 

necessary for success that will reduce the wildfire risk to 

people, communities, and natural resources and restore forest 

health and resilience.

WORKING 

TOGETHER 

TO ACHIEVE 

STRATEGIC GOALS

Forest Service Chief Randy Moore and 

other leaders meet with more than a dozen 

firefighters at the Wildland Firefighters 

Foundation headquarters in Boise, ID, 

to hear feedback on many issues. USDA 

Forest Service photo by Dave Walsh.

Forest Service employees and partners at the 2022 interagency wildland fire briefing at Jeffco Airtanker Base in Broomfield, CO. USDA Forest Service photo by William A. Cotton.

ROUNDTABLES

In early 2022, the Forest Service held a series of virtual 

roundtables to discuss the implementation plan for the 

Wildfire Crisis Strategy. The purpose of the roundtables was to 

increase understanding of the wildfire crisis, evaluate options 

for confronting the crisis, and explore ways of building on 

the energies and accomplishments of everyone involved. The 

roundtables focused on a key question: How can the Forest 

Service and partners move from small-scale, independently 

managed treatments to strategic, landscape-level treatments 

that cross boundaries at the actual scale of wildfire risk, 

starting with the landscapes most at risk? 

The Forest Service partnered with the National Forest 

Foundation to host a series of roundtables involving Forest 

Service employees and partners. The Forest Service also 

partnered with the Intertribal Timber Council to host separate 

but complementary conversations with Tribes. Summary 

reports from each of these roundtables capture discussions, 

themes, and opportunities for action. The roundtable 

discussions set the stage for the Forest Service to work with 

others in carrying out the 10-year strategy.

PARTNERSHIPS

The roundtables highlighted the need and opportunities for 

continued work with others. For example, the agency recently 

established an agreement with Forest Trends to coordinate 

forest restoration work between government, industry, utilities, 

and other entities. The Forest Service has also planned a 

series of industry and forest products roundtables hosted 

by the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities. 

Additional agreements with partners are currently being 

developed to further support fuels work nationwide, 

including improvements in landscapes and needed workforce 

development.

In April the U.S. Department of the Interior—a major Federal 

Government partner of the USDA Forest Service—released a 

5-year monitoring, maintenance, and treatment plan to address 

wildfire risk. Complementary to the Wildfire Crisis Strategy, 

these plans facilitate a collaborative, multijurisdictional 

approach to reduce wildfire risk to communities and natural 

resources across broad landscapes.

ENHANCED PARTNERSHIP 

POLICIES

In July, Forest Service Chief Randy Moore issued interim 

policy direction that makes it easier for existing and potential 

partners to work with us to achieve mutually beneficial goals. 

He directed the agency to: (1) consider a partner’s full value 

and contribution when determining if partnership agreements 

meet match requirements; (2) remove the policy requirement 

for “substantial cash contributions;” and (3) identify a process 

to reduce, and in some cases waive, match requirements that 

are not statutorily required.

“Our partnership with the Forest Service is central 

to our mission. Wild turkeys, as well as other wildlife, 

rely on healthy habitats and healthy forests for their 

long-term sustainability. Likewise, hunters rely 

on the same for a quality and successful hunting 

experience. Our work focuses on the shared values of 

water, forests/wildlife habitat, recreation and resilient 

communities. This partnership enables us to make 

greater investments at a greater scale to keep forests 

healthy, water clean and stop critical habitat loss.

”

Kurt Dyroff

Co-CEO, National Wild Turkey Federation
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Under the implementation plan for the Wildfire Crisis Strategy, 

the Forest Service engaged partners in identifying the high-risk 

landscapes for fuels and forest health treatments, with initial 

funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. At the local 

level, developing a fuels treatment program is a collaborative 

effort that involves community buy-in, legal compliance, and 

cross-boundary actions. 

Reducing wildfire risk requires a variety of treatments, including 

mechanical, biomass removal, and prescribed fire. For an area 

that is a high-risk fireshed, an average of three treatments 

often provides enough risk reduction for an area to reach a 

“maintenance mode.” The landscape can then be maintained 

as a lower risk fireshed through recurring, and less expensive, 

treatments.

Criteria for selecting landscapes were based on collaborative and 

cross-boundary partnerships, alignment with high-risk firesheds, 

meeting the intent of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, 

appropriate analysis under the National Environmental Policy 

Act, agency and partner capacity, and projects that are at scale or 

can be built out to scale to initiate work in fiscal year 2022. 

LANDSCAPE 

INVESTMENTS

WILDFIRE CRISIS STRATEGY

STORY MAP

This web-based, interactive tool will provide partners, the public, and lawmakers information on the current 

national priority landscapes. It provides data and visibility on the progress and impacts of our work. The 

story map shares charts and tables about funding and hazardous fuel activities as well as interactive maps 

that show where work is being done on Forest Service and nearby U.S. Department of the Interior lands. 

The story map also highlights the partners the agency is working with. The Forest Service updates the map 

regularly. See it and more at www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/wildfire-crisis.

HIGH-RISK 

FIRESHEDS IN 

THE WESTERN 

UNITED STATES

10 landscapes selected for 

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law 

investment

Priority Landscapes

High-Risk Fireshed (all lands)

High-Risk Fireshed (NFS lands)

National Forest System (NFS)
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Acres treated in fiscal year (FY) 2022 are shown by 

funding source: Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), 

Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration Partnership, 

Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration (CFLR) 

program, and regularly appropriated work.

WHAT DOES SUCCESS 

LOOK LIKE?

Most importantly, threatened 

communities will be safer through 

the work in these firesheds and 

their partnership in developing and 

implementing their Community 

Wildfire Protection Plans. Success 

across these landscapes will mean that 

these forest ecosystems support natural 

fire regimes, which in turn ensure 

diverse populations of native plants 

and animals and a decreased threat 

of destructive wildfire. The work will 

support sustainable forest industries 

that strengthen local economies 

while conserving natural resources 

and aesthetic values. Further, success 

means there are restoration-based job 

opportunities and lower fuel treatment 

costs over the long term. Appropriately 

scaled business and industry will play 

a key role in this effort by harvesting, 

processing, and selling wood products. 

Although all 10 of the landscape 

investments are multijurisdictional, 

the following updates include 

accomplishments on NFS lands only. 

In coordination with other Federal 

agencies, Tribes, States, and other 

landowners, the goal remains to treat 

20–40 percent of these landscapes.

A map of the 10 landscapes is on the 

previous page, with descriptions of 

each on this and following pages.

ARIZONA

FOUR FOREST RESTORATION 

INITIATIVE

The landscape contains 9 of Arizona’s 

10 highest priority areas for reducing 

wildfire risk. Located in the northern 

part of the State, the landscape includes 

non-Federal lands as well as parts of 

the Tonto, Kaibab, Coconino, and 

Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests.

Project area: 5.97 million acres

Acres treated by funding source:

• BIL: 67,933

• Regular appropriations: 4,607

• CFLR projects: 58,883

Total acres treated, FY 2022: 131,423

Total landscape acreage to be treated, 

FY 2022–26: 790,000

Acreage to be treated with BIL funds,

FY 2022–26: 671,500

Requested funding for FY 2022–26: 

$340 million

Outcomes: Reduced fire risk to 

communities and infrastructure within 

this landscape, including the cities 

of Flagstaff and Williams; municipal 

watersheds; the U.S. Naval Observatory, 

Flagstaff Station; and the Camp Navajo 

Military Base.

Partners: Tribal Governments and 

Navaho Nations, the Center for 

Biological Diversity, Grand Canyon 

Trust, Ecological Restoration Institute, 

National Wild Turkey Federation, 

Northern Arizona Loggers Association, 

Arizona Department of Forestry and 

Fire Management, and many more

ARIZONA

GREATER PRESCOTT AREA 

WILDFIRE PROTECTION AND 

RESTORATION

The landscape extends across nonFederal lands and parts of the Prescott 

National Forest in northern Arizona. 

Project area: 543,000 acres

Acres treated by funding source:

• BIL: 13,843

• Regular appropriations: 3,816

Total acres treated, FY 2022: 17,659

Total landscape acreage to be treated, 

FY 2022–26: 69,000

Acreage to be treated with BIL funds,

FY 2022–26: 58,650

Requested funding for FY 2022–26: 

$62.39 million

Outcomes: Reduced fire risk for 

communities, including Prescott, 

Prescott Valley, Walker, Crown King, 

Ponderosa Park, Groom Creek, DeweyHumboldt, Mayer, Jerome, and Tribal 

lands of the Yavapai-Prescott.

Partners: U.S. Department of the 

Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, 

Arizona Department of Forestry and 

Fire Management, Yavapai-Prescott 

Indian Tribe, Yavapai-Apache Nation, 

and many more

CALIFORNIA

NORTH YUBA LANDSCAPE

The landscape spans the North Yuba 

watershed in the Sierra Nevada, an 

important water source for farmers and 

residents in the Sacramento Valley. 

Project area: 357,000 acres

Acres treated by funding source:

• Regular appropriations: 267

Total acres treated, FY 2022: 267

Total landscape acreage to be treated, 

FY 2022–26: 22,000

Acreage to be treated with BIL funds,

FY 2022–26: 12,000

Requested funding for FY 2022–26: 

$200 million

Outcomes: Reduced fire risk to 

mining claims, recreation sites, and 

communities, including Downieville 

(Sierra County seat), Sierra City, 

Goodyears Bar, Pike, Allegheny, Forest 

City, Bassets, Loganville, Camptonville, 

LaPorte (now depopulated), and 

Strawberry Valley.

Partners: Sierra County, Blue Forest 

Conservation, the Yuba Water Agency, 

Nisenan of the Nevada City Rancheria, 

and more

CALIFORNIA

STANISLAUS

The landscape ranges from the 

Stanislaus National Forest in the Sierra 

Nevada down through non-Federal 

lands in the Sierra foothills.

Project area: 304,000 acres

Acres treated by funding source:

• BIL: 477

• Regular appropriations: 4,972

Total acres treated, FY 2022: 5,449

Total landscape acreage to be treated, 

FY 2022–26: 50,500

Acreage to be treated with BIL funds,

FY 2022–26: 42,250

Requested funding for FY 2022–26: 

$97.8 million

Outcomes: Reduced fire risk to 

communities, including Sonora, 

Columbia, Cedar Ridge, Twain Harte, 

Strawberry, Pinecrest, Long Barn; 

community infrastructure, including 

Pinecrest Lake, Lyons Reservoir, and 

the historic wooden flume which 

provides 90 percent of the water to 

the local area; and utilities, such as 

hydropower, power transmission and 

distribution lines, and communication 

facilities; and road improvements.

Partners: California Department of 

Forestry and Fire Prevention (CAL 

FIRE), the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, 

the California Department of Fish 

and Wildlife, the Yosemite Stanislaus 

Solutions collaborative, the American 

Forest Foundation, the Great Basin 

Institute, the Institute for Bird 

Populations, and the Tuolumne Band 

of Me-Wuk

COLORADO

COLORADO FRONT RANGE

The landscape extends across the 

Colorado Front Range, including mostly 

non-Federal lands in addition to parts 

of the Arapaho and Roosevelt National 

Forests and the Pike and San Isabel 

National Forests.

Project area: 3.58 million acres

Acres treated by funding source:

• BIL: 7,178

• Regular appropriations: 3,484

Total acres treated, FY 2022: 10,662

Total landscape acreage to be treated,

FY 2022–26: 64,000

Acreage to be treated with BIL funds,

FY 2022–26: 59,000

Requested funding for FY 2022–26:

$232 million

Outcomes: Reduced fire risk to the 

communities of Aspen Park, Berthoud, 

Cascade-Chipita Park, Castle Pines 

Village, Castle Rock, Coal Creek, 

Colorado Springs, Estes Park, Evergreen, 

Fairmount, Florissant, Fort Collins, 

Fountain, Genesee, Gleneagle, Indian 

Hills, Ken Caryl, Lazy Acres, Longmont, 

Loveland, Lyons, Palmer Lake, Perry 

Park, Pine Brook Hill, Ponderosa Park, 

Red Feather Lakes, Roxborough Park, 

Wellington, Williamsburg, Woodland 

Park, and Woodmoor, among others; 

watersheds and water delivery 

infrastructure, including Strontia Springs 

Reservoir, which supplies 80 percent of 

Denver’s drinking water; transmission 

lines; and communication sites and 

facilities.

Partners: Tribal Governments, Denver 

Water, the City of Boulder, The Nature 

Conservancy, the Colorado State Forest 

Service, and many more
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IDAHO

SOUTHWEST IDAHO

The landscape covers high-risk 

firesheds across non-Federal lands in 

southwestern Idaho, including parts of 

the Payette and Boise National Forests.

Project area: 1.72 million acres

Acres treated by funding source:

• BIL: 8,417

• Regular appropriations: 6,452

• CFLR projects: 5,760

Total acres treated, FY 2022: 20,629

Total landscape acreage to be treated, 

FY 2022–26: 90,000

Acreage to be treated with BIL funds,

FY 2022–26: 90,000

Requested funding for FY 2022–26:

$104 million

Outcomes: Reduced fire risk to 

communities, including Boise, 

Horseshoe Bend, Idaho City, Garden 

Valley, McCall, Cascade, Donnelly, 

New Meadows, and Council; recreation 

areas, including ski resorts, mountain 

biking and snowmobile trails, and 

campgrounds; habitat for steelhead, 

chinook salmon, and bull trout 

populations; and community water 

sources. 

Partners: the State of Idaho, Nez 

Perce Tribe, the Bureau of Land 

Management, The Nature Conservancy, 

the Boise and Payette Forest Coalitions, 

and other groups

IDAHO/MONTANA

KOOTENAI COMPLEX

The landscape includes high-risk 

firesheds on the Kootenai National 

Forest and non-Federal lands 

surrounding the communities of Libby, 

Troy, Eureka, Stryker, Fortine, and 

Trego in western Montana.

Project area: 796,000 acres

Acres treated by funding source:

• BIL: 990

• Regular appropriations: 6,789

• CFLR projects: 555

Total acres treated, FY 2022: 8,334

Total landscape acreage to be treated, 

FY 2022–26: 25,950

Acreage to be treated with BIL funds,

FY 2022–26: 6,750

Requested funding for FY 2022–26: 

$42.5 million

Outcomes: Reduced fire risk around the 

communities and critical watersheds 

of Libby, Troy, Eureka, Stryker, Fortine, 

and Trego. 

Partners: Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, 

Lincoln County, the Montana 

Department of Natural Resources 

and Conservation, the USDA Natural 

Resources Conservation Service, and 

the Confederated Salish and Kootenai 

Tribes

NEW MEXICO

ENCHANTED CIRCLE

The landscape spans high-risk firesheds 

on Federal, State, Tribal, and private 

lands in northern New Mexico, 

including parts of the Carson National 

Forest. 

Project area: 1.46 million acres

Acres treated by funding source:

• BIL: 6,770

• Regular appropriations: 572

Total acres treated, FY 2022: 7,350

Total landscape acreage to be treated, 

FY 2022–26: 48,278

Acreage to be treated with BIL funds,

FY 2022–26: 41,036

Requested funding for FY 2022–26: 

$42.5 million

Outcomes: Reduced fire risk to the 

Canadian and Rio Grande watersheds, 

acequias and other water movement 

infrastructure, communication 

sites, community water sources, and 

rangeland management improvements 

that are critical to the towns, villages, 

and unincorporated communities 

within Taos, Rio Arriba, Mora, and 

Colfax Counties, the Taos and Picuris 

Pueblos, and numerous community 

land grants.

Partners: Taos, Picuris, and Sandia 

Pueblos, the Rio Grande Water Fund, 

Taos Valley Watershed Coalition, New 

Mexico Forest Industry Association, 

New Mexico State Forestry, and more

OREGON

CENTRAL OREGON

The landscape covers Federal, State, 

and private lands on the eastern 

side of the Cascade Mountains in 

central Oregon, including parts of the 

Deschutes National Forest and the 

Crooked River National Grassland.

Project area: 2.6 million acres

Acres treated by funding source:

• BIL: 3,181

• Regular appropriations: 14,770

• CFLR projects: 8,624

• Joint Chiefs’ projects: 3,664

Total acres treated, FY 2022: 30,239

Total landscape acreage to be treated, 

FY 2022–26: 55,000

Acreage to be treated with BIL funds,

FY 2022–26: 55,000

Requested funding for FY 2022–26:

$61 million

Outcomes: Reduced fire risk to the 

communities of Bend, Crescent, 

Gilchrist, La Pine, Madras, Redmond 

and Sisters, as well as the Bridge Creek 

watershed, Mt. Bachelor ski resort, 

power line infrastructure, and private 

residences.

Partners: the Confederated Tribes of 

Warm Springs, Oregon Department 

of Forestry, Deschutes Collaborative 

Forest Project, Central Oregon Shared 

Stewardship Alliance, Deschutes 

County, and many more

WASHINGTON

CENTRAL WASHINGTON 

INITIATIVE

The landscape covers Federal, State, 

and private lands on the eastern side 

of the Cascade Mountains in central 

Washington, including parts of the 

Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.

Project area: 2.44 million acres

Acres treated by funding source:

• BIL: 7,870

• Regular appropriations: 32,618

• CFLR projects: 3,215

Total acres treated, FY 2022: 43,703

Total landscape acreage to be treated, 

FY 2022–26: 87,400

Acreage to be treated with BIL funds,

FY 2022–26: 74,000

Requested funding for FY 2022–26: 

$166.6 

Outcomes: Reduced wildfire risk to 

multiple communities, including 

Leavenworth, Wenatchee, Chelan, and 

Cashmere.

Partners: the Confederated Tribes of 

the Yakama Nation, the Washington 

Department of Natural Resources, 

the North Central Washington Forest 

Health Collaborative, The Nature 

Conservancy, the Wilderness Society, 

and more
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While the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and recent passing 

of the Inflation Reduction Act provide an important down 

payment, the Forest Service and our partners are still well short 

of the resources necessary to complete the work called for in the 

Wildfire Crisis Strategy. The agency will need additional support 

from Congress and outside stakeholders to address wildfire risk 

and fully implement the strategy.

Some of the agency’s biggest challenges have been hiring to 

build workforce capacity. These challenges arise from several 

factors, including the Federal hiring process, the Nation’s 

current labor market, increasing housing costs, and housing 

availability, especially in rural areas where forest health and 

restoration work is needed most. 

In addition to labor shortages, agency administrators also face 

challenges such as improving public trust and support, moving 

efficiently through the National Environmental Policy Act 

process, and the inherent complexity of prescribed fire in and 

around the wildland-urban interface.

In facing these challenges, the Forest Service is implementing 

creative solutions to increase capacity, such as specialized teams 

and targeted staffing on key landscapes. The Forest Service 

is also improving how we track accomplishments to better 

describe and account for the multiple treatments that occur on 

each treated acre. 

CHALLENGES AND 

OPPORTUNITIES

A contract crew creates a fuels break—an area 

designed to stop or slow the spread of a wildfire—near 

the Mt. Elizabeth lookout tower on the Stanislaus 

National Forest, CA. The project is the first in a series 

of landscape-scale actions designed to protect life 

and property in Cedar Ridge, Twain Harte, and other 

communities in the wildland-urban interface.
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The successes and accomplishments across the initial 

landscapes in 2022 set the stage for future years. Funding from 

the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will continue to support 

operations; the Inflation Reduction Act will support additional 

work at the landscape scale. 

In June 2022, USDA released the Secretary’s Memorandum 

on Climate Resilience and Carbon Stewardship of America’s 

National Forests and Grasslands. The Secretary’s memo builds 

on previous actions on climate change, equity, and forest 

resilience, but provides more specific and time-bound actions to 

integrate into agency programs. The Forest Service will use the 

guidance in the Secretary’s memo to better inform the selection 

criteria for projects under the Wildfire Crisis Strategy, including 

equity, source water protection, community infrastructure, 

carbon storage, at-risk species, and wildlife corridors.

The Forest Service’s work to implement the Wildfire Crisis 

Strategy would not be possible without our partners. The 

agency will continue to embrace partnerships as the key to our 

collective success.

WHAT’S NEXT

Forest Service employees conduct a prescribed 

burn on the Yuba River Ranger District of the Tahoe 

National Forest. This use of low-intensity fire 

removes hazardous vegetation near communities 

in the wildland-urban interface. USDA Forest 

Service photo by Jamie Hinrichs. “

Addressing the challenges of extreme wildfire requires 

an all-hands-on-deck, cross-boundary effort rooted 

in equitable partnerships, Indigenous values and the 

best available science. The Forest Service’s Wildfire 

Crisis Strategy is critical to this effort. One year into 

the strategy’s implementation, we see important work 

being done—and, of course, much more to do. This is 

no easy fix. It requires substantial resources and vision. 

But with the agency’s sustained commitment to working 

alongside its many partners to strategically confront the 

complex challenges of wildfire resilience, we can secure 

safer communities and healthier forests. The Nature 

Conservancy is grateful for that commitment. We look 

forward to continued collaboration with the Forest 

Service and its partners.

”

Marek Smith

Director of The Nature Conservancy’s North America Fire program
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Cover photo: An aerial view of the Colorado Front Range priority landscape after mechanical thinning. USDA Forest Service photo.

Page 12 photo: Firefighters complete a prescribed burn to remove fuels and hazardous vegetation near communities in the wildland-urban 

interface. USDA Forest Service photos by Jamie Hinrichs.
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WILDFIRE CRISIS

strategy