Watersheds for Firesheds
$3.5B? Who’s counting? We Are!
A consortium of preeminent western leaders, we bring new approaches and allies to challenging Western water issues. Learn more
Friends of Confluence West –
Welcome to Watersheds for Firesheds, our new project helping western community-based watershed and listed species advocates and water supply utilities tap into the Forest Service's new $3.5 billion 'Fireshed' funding. We want 'Fireshed' investments in watersheds, wildlife habitat, and climate resilience projects to be on par with the current Forest Service’s focus on community hardening and thinning.
Our job is to provide analysis and information to help you figure out how some of that funding can be directed toward source water, listed species, watershed restoration, and climate resilience projects.
How to use this website – first, check to see:
If the landscape/watershed you're working to protect is located in one of the Forest Service's 'Firesheds.'
If the landscape meets the Forest Service's 'starting gate' criteria: At least some NEPA-ready, effective collaboration and workforce in place.
What's new:
What about IRA funding? There's $200M in the Inflation Reduction Act for the Water Source Protection Program. The first set of funding guidelines out - America the Beautiful/watershed restoration. Applications due April 20
What about other IRA and Infrastructure Act funding? Congressman Jared Huffman shared this helpful summary of funding opportunities
The US Forest Service is at a historic and challenging time. Billions of new dollars are being squeezed into an agency that has seen its annual operating budgets slashed over the past two decades. The agency is also under a lot of political pressure - even though the first round of Fireshed funding was only made last May, members of Congress are already requesting detailed updates.
All of this makes the job for watershed and source water protection NGOs and water providers doubly challenging - we have to make sure that at least some funding goes to ensuring healthy watersheds and supply and, at the same time, navigate a crippled agency.
For the West,
Kimery
Our great thanks to The Water Foundation for its support of the Watersheds for Firesheds project.