Rare Grant Opportunity for Landowners to Create Fire Resilient Landscape

Cascadia Conservation District, Lake Wenatchee Fire and Rescue and Washington's Department of Natural Resources are leading the 100 Acres Healthy Woods Challenge program served as an incentive for landowners to conduct fuels reduction work such as thinning small trees, limbing up large trees and reducing brush.

"This is a really special grant opportunity that probably won't come around again," said Patrick Haggerty, Cascadia's forestry program manager.

To appeal to landowners to create more fire resilient landscaping, the 100 Acre Healthy Woods Challenge offers cost-share reimbursements to landowners.

"We designed the program to have some different thresholds," said Haggerty. "If we got 100 acres worth of folks signed up, with eight or more people, we'd be able to cover the cost of the project."

Currently ten landowners are signed up to participate and the current acreage projected is 128 acres, which means the program will fund 100% of the cost.

"It was strategic, this is an area from a fire practitioner standpoint that makes sense that we get something in place ahead of a wildfire that we can use operational in the future, if the need arises," said Nolan Brewer, DNR. "It really does emphasize that cross-boundary work across multiple private landowners as well as being adjacent to that forest service boundary."