Interior Sec. Salazar Announces $15 Million for Hazardous Fuel Reduction Projects, Biomass Production on Public Lands

May 21, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced today that the Department would invest $15 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to fund 55 projects that will reduce hazardous fuels on thousands of acres of federal land to protect communities at risk from wildland fires, support local economies and rehabilitate ecosystems damaged by wildfire. The funding is part of $3 billion Interior is investing in the nation’s economy under President Obama’s recovery plan.

“This investment will create jobs in rural communities in 12 states, boost the Department’s hazardous fuels reduction activities and generate biomass for use in wood products or power generation,” Secretary Salazar said. “We will create local jobs on both the front and back ends of this initiative, while reducing threats to homes, businesses and schools and restoring healthy landscapes. Where possible, we will invite young adults to join these efforts to help develop a new generation of natural resource stewards.”

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A rigorous merit-based process was used to identify projects from California to Montana to Wisconsin and Oklahoma that met the criteria put forth in the Recovery Act: namely, that a project addresses the Department’s highest priority mission needs; generates the largest number of jobs in the shortest period of time; and creates lasting value for the American public.

All the hazardous fuels reduction projects are long-standing priorities of the Department’s Wildland Fire Management program that:

* Increase firefighter and public safety
* Reduce threats to homes, businesses, schools, other valuable infrastructure
and cultural and natural resources
* Conserve municipal watersheds
* Help preserve jobs dependent on natural resources
* Uphold environmental quality
* Enhance effective use of Federal, State, Tribal, and local skills and resources
* Lower the threat of pollution from particulates
* Reduce smoke impacts from wildfire

The final selection criteria ensured project planning and environmental compliance work was complete or substantially complete and that projects have the potential to provide additional economic benefits to support local or regional employment through post-treatment use of biomass in wood products or power generation.

Under the Department’s Wildland Fire Management program, fuels reduction treatments thin overgrown woodlands, reduce accumulated deadwood and dense underbrush to lessen the potential for intense wildland fire and post-fire damage, and limit the proliferation and spread of invasive species and diseases.

Secretary Salazar has pledged unprecedented levels of transparency and accountability in implementing the Department’s economic recovery projects. The public can follow the progress of each project on the recovery web site and at www.interior.gov/recovery. The website includes an interactive map that enables the public also to follow where and how the department’s recovery dollars are being spent.

Secretary Salazar also has appointed a Senior Advisor for Economic Recovery, Chris Henderson, and an Interior Economic Recovery Task Force. Henderson and the Task Force will work closely with the Department of the Interior’s Inspector General to ensure that the recovery program is meeting the high standards for accountability, responsibility, and transparency that President Obama has set.

A list of the projects by state is online at http://recovery.doi.gov/press/office-of-wildland-fire/ and below:

Office of Wildland Fire

The Department of the Interior will invest $15 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to fund 55 projects that will reduce hazardous fuels on thousands of acres of federal land to protect communities at risk from wildland fires, support local economies and rehabilitate ecosystems damaged by wildfire. The funding is part of $3 billion Interior is investing in the nation’s economy under President Obama’s recovery plan.

A rigorous merit-based process was used to identify investments that met the criteria put forth in the Recovery Act: namely, that a project addresses the Department’s highest priority mission needs; generates the largest number of jobs in the shortest period of time; and creates lasting value for the American public.

All the hazardous fuels reduction projects are long-standing priorities of the Department’s Wildland Fire Management program that:

* Increase firefighter and public safety
* Reduce threats to homes, businesses, schools, other valuable infrastructure
and cultural and natural resources
* Conserve municipal watersheds
* Help preserve jobs dependent on natural resources
* Uphold environmental quality
* Enhance effective use of Federal, State, Tribal, and local skills and resources
* Lower the threat of pollution from particulates
* Reduce smoke impacts from wildfire.

The final selection criteria ensured project planning and environmental compliance work was complete or substantially complete and that projects have the potential to provide additional economic benefits to support local or regional employment through post-treatment use of biomass in wood products or power generation.

Under the Department’s Wildland Fire Management program, fuels reduction treatments thin overgrown woodlands, reduce accumulated deadwood and dense underbrush to lessen the potential for intense wildland fire and post-fire damage, and limit the proliferation and spread of invasive species and diseases.

Office of Wildland Fire Projects by State

Alaska $700,000

* Kenai Biomass

Arizona $1,270,000

* Las Cienegas NCA-Mesquite Utilization/Stewardship
* Shiprock WUI
* Redrock WUI
* San Carlos HFR Biomass Project

California $3,330,000

* Stones Bengard Biomass for Cogeneration
* International Border Fuel Break/Biomass Utilization
* Desert Restoration/ Biomass Utilization
* South Coast Hazardous Fuels Reduction/Biomass Utilization
* Tuledad Warner Mtn Hazardous Fuel Reduction
* Fandango Juniper Hazardous Fuel Reduction/Biomass Utilization
* Shasta Fire Mgt Unit WUI Hazardous Fuel Reduction
* Dos Palmas Desert Habitat Restoration/ Biomass Utilization
* Protecting natural and historic resources, and at-risk adjacent communities from catastrophic wildfires

Idaho $667,000

* Elk City WUI Hazardous Fuel Reduction
* Bannock Peak Hazardous Fuels Reduction
* Kilgore-Moose WUI Forest Restoration
* Carmen-Freeman Creek Forest Restoration
* Kilgore -Button Butte WUI Forest Restoration

Minnesota $242,000

* Biomass Utilization–Firebreak Construction and Mech Fuels Reduction
* Agassiz Biomass Landscape Fuels Reduction
* Fuel Reduction/ Bio Mass Utilization
* Biomass Utilization–HFR and Fuel Break Creation

Montana $2,044,000

* Hollowwood Hazardous Fuels Reduction
* Kiowa Camp WUI Fuels Reduction
* McConnell/Mission Peak Connect Hazardous Fuels Reduction
* Confed. Salish & Kootenai Tribes-Biomass Utilization
* Centennial Hazardous Fuels Reduction
* Box Elder WUI Fuels Reduction
* East Glacier WUI Fuels Reduction
* Spearsiting WUI Fuels Reduction
* Kid Creek Prescribed Fire

New Mexico $1,198,000

* Mescalero West Morgan
* Ramah Cerro Alto Lobo
* Pinos Altos WUI Hazardous Fuel Reduction
* Top of the World Pie Town WUI Hazardous Fuel Reduction
* Wolf Wells WUI Hazardous Fuel Reduction

Oklahoma $1,406,000

* The Point Wildland Urban Interface Hazard Fuels Reduction Thinning Phase 2
* Hunting (WUI) Thinning Phase 2

Oregon $724,000

* Coquille Hazard Fuels Reduction
* Biomass Production
* Coquille Biomass Utilization

Utah $641,000

* Desert Reserve WUI Fuel Break
* Low Hills Sage Antimony WUI Hazardous Fuel Reduction
* Columbia WUI Hazardous Fuel Reduction

Washington $1,252,000

* Colville Biomass Utilization
* Contract Thinning with Specialized Equipment
* Yakama Biomass

Wisconsin $771,000

* Columbia WPA Brush Removal-Biomass
* Kostka Biomass Utilization
* EB Slash Recovery - Biomass project
* 3 Lakes Biomass Utilization
* Star Prairie Biomass Utilization
* Polk County Biomass Utilization
* Dane WPA Brush Removal-Biomass

Source: Interior Dept.