Community Wildfire Defense Grant 2023 South | USDA FS 2023 CWDG SGSF

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA FS 2023 CWDG SGSF

The Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) 2023 South is a discretionary grant program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service designed to help communities and Tribal nations reduce wildfire risk through better planning and on-the-ground mitigation. The overall aim is to support places that are considered at-risk, especially communities in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) where homes, infrastructure, and public safety are closely tied to surrounding vegetation and fire-prone landscapes. Funding is meant to help communities take practical steps that lower the likelihood of catastrophic wildfire impacts and improve readiness before a fire starts.

A central feature of this opportunity is its focus on priority communities. The authorizing law directs attention toward communities that meet one or more of the following conditions: they are located in areas identified as having high or very high wildfire hazard potential, they are low-income, and/or they have experienced impacts from a severe disaster. The detailed definitions and how those priorities are assessed are provided in the official Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), which applicants are expected to review carefully before submitting an application.

The program is structured to advance the three goals of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy. First, it supports efforts to restore and maintain resilient landscapes, meaning landscapes that can better withstand or recover from disturbances such as wildfire, insect and disease outbreaks, invasive species, and climate-driven impacts, while still meeting local and cross-jurisdictional management objectives. Second, it promotes the creation of fire-adapted communities, where residents, local governments, and infrastructure systems are more prepared to handle wildfire and to recover afterward. Third, it aims to improve wildfire response by encouraging coordinated, risk-based decision-making across jurisdictions so that response actions are safer, more effective, and more efficient.

CWDG funding generally falls into two main project categories. The first category is planning focused: developing a new Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) or updating/revising an existing CWPP. The second category is implementation focused: carrying out projects that are already described in a CWPP, as long as that CWPP is less than ten years old. In practice, this structure is meant to move communities from planning to action, while also ensuring that implementation projects are guided by a relatively current, locally supported wildfire protection plan.

Eligible applicants are broad and include many of the entities that typically lead or coordinate community risk reduction work. Eligible applicant types include state governments, county governments, city or township governments, special district governments, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, federally recognized Tribal governments, Tribal organizations (including those not federally recognized as governments), and nonprofit organizations (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3), excluding higher education institutions). This wide eligibility is intended to reflect how wildfire mitigation is often led through partnerships among local governments, Tribes, nonprofits, and other community-based organizations.

From the funding details provided, this opportunity is listed under CFDA (Assistance Listing) 10.720 and is categorized under disaster prevention and relief and natural resources. The award ceiling is up to $10,000,000, and the program anticipated around 100 awards for this round. The opportunity was posted July 31, 2023, with an application closing date of October 31, 2023. Applications are submitted through the dedicated portal at cwdg.forestrygrants.org, and the NOFO serves as the primary instruction document for what must be submitted, how proposals are evaluated, and what requirements apply.

To help applicants navigate the process, the Forest Service scheduled a set of applicant webinars for Round 2. These sessions were designed to be universally useful across regions, since the Round 2 application process was standardized for all applicants (unlike Round 1, which had different regional processes). While any applicant could attend any session, the August 10 webinar was described as more focused on Tribal applications and included Tribal-specific Q and A. Webinar recordings were expected to be posted on the Forest Service CWDG website for those who could not attend live.

In short, this grant opportunity is about giving at-risk communities and Tribes the resources to plan intelligently (through CWPP development or updates) and to carry out prioritized, locally identified wildfire mitigation projects (through CWPP-based implementation). It is backed by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (Public Law 117-58), and it aligns federal funding with community-driven wildfire preparedness, risk reduction, and cross-jurisdictional coordination.

• The Department of Agriculture, Forest Service in the disaster prevention and relief, natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Community Wildfire Defense Grant 2023 South" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.720.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jul 31, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Oct 31, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $10,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 100 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education.

Apply for USDA FS 2023 CWDG SGSF

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: