Tribal Engagement

Program Description: Tribes play a crucial role in managing forest land. The Governor’s Wildfire Resilience budget provided $40 million in funding for California Native American tribal governments to support tribal-led wildfire resilience efforts. The funds will support Tribes in managing tribal land holdings, implement and promote tribal ecological knowledge in wildfire resilience, and establish wildfire safety for tribal communities. The goal of the program is to deliver resources to California Native American tribes to support wildfire resilience in a way that is efficient, respectful, equitable and supports a more direct approach to getting State resources to valuable projects identified by tribes.

Program Impact: Initially, funds have been made available through CAL FIRE’s existing Forest Health program. CAL FIRE has a tailored, fast and effective grant program for California Native American tribes to support wildfire resilience activities and projects. In the longer term, the funds will be utilized to establish an equitable and efficient process to get resources to California Native American tribes in a way that maximizes tribal autonomy and minimizes burdensome State processes and paperwork.

Resilience in Action: With the support of CNRA, Tribes were consulted regarding the specific conditions that should be included in the grant program. CAL FIRE has developed the Tribal Grant guidelines and the solicitation for applications is currently open and will make awards in the coming months.