Visualizing Federal Funding for Wildfire Management and Response

Over the past two years, the federal government has invested unprecedented amounts of funding in wildfire suppression, hazardous fuels reduction, community preparedness, and restoration through theInfrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)and the通货膨胀减少ct (IRA). Together, the IIJA and IRA provide $24 billion in funding for wildfire issues, distributed over 40 different programs and administered by a dozen agencies.

Alongside these investments, three interagency bodies—the Congressionally mandatedWildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission,Wildland Fire Leadership Council(WFLC), and theWhite House Wildfire Resilience Interagency Working Group—are currently working to update and implement theNational Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategyand to chart a new policy course for wildfire resilience and management to meet this moment of severe risk from catastrophic megafires. The confluence of these developments has created a prime window for change in wildfire policy and action.

为了协助决策者，资助者和有兴趣的利益相关者的决策，美国科学家联合会（FAS）和未来资源（RFF）开发了一种数据可视化工具，以分解当前的联邦资金景观。

About the Federal Wildfire Funding Wheel

TheFederal Wildfire Funding Wheel分析三个核心领域的联邦资金：Restoring Landscapes, Fire-Adapted Communities, Wildfire Response. Its structure is modeled off of a similar diagram that was developed by the White House Interagency Working Group to inform coordination opportunities across agencies. We have reformulated it to provide a more dynamic visual presentation that can be easily enriched with additional data layers and funding information as they become available.

The Wheel maps coarse allocations of federal dollars identified in the IIJA and the IRA and does not include funding that would appear in the annual appropriations. TheCongressional Research Service has released a detailed viewof FY 2022 appropriations and the FY 2023 budget request for USDA and DOI’s Wildland Fire Management (WFM) accounts. Against this breakdown, we map the specific programs of funding and relevant legislation by category. This information can be viewed dynamically as you mouse over each wedge.

How to Interact with the Wildfire Wheel

The center circle shows the three core domain areas, which are mapped into project areas in the second ring. As you roll over each slice in the second ring, you will see: 1) federal funding from the IIJA; 2) federal funding from the IRA; and 3) relevant legislation for each project area. The outermost ring details the specific programs from the IIJA and the IRA that fall into each project area. Note that some programs fall into more than one project area, and their funding is counted in the total funding for all of those project areas.

Putting the Wheel in Action

FAS和RFF设想野火车轮是WFLC，委员会，机构间工作组以及外部利益相关者和慈善社区的工具，以了解联邦资金的分配，并确定缺乏资金来告知其政策建议。慈善资助者可能会发现机会填补资金空白和支持政府目前没有能力做的活动。在方向盘上的项目区域内，机构间机构可以查明具有重叠目标的代理计划之间的协同作用并协调其实施。

Beyond policymakers and funders, non-governmental experts and stakeholders may also use the Wheel to understand opportunities for engagement and to inform their advocacy to the government. To support these efforts, FAS has been working with a cohort of experts and stakeholders through ourWildland Fire Policy Acceleratorand looks forward to sharing their policy memos with the public and the Commission soon.

RFF is conducting analysis of wildfire programs and funding to helpNGOs, philanthropies, and private landowners understand and navigate the complex portfolio of federal institutions that manage and respond to wildfire. The work will help non-governmental wildfire stakeholders coordinate and partner with federal activity, leverage federal funds, and fill gaps in wildfire planning, science, and management. Via guidance documents, RFF and FAS will work together to disseminate this institutional and budgetary analysis.

The interactive wheel is a living document, which we will update periodically as more funding information is available.