Chelan County secures previously frozen wildfire defense grant

CHELAN COUNTY – After facing an uncertain delay due to frozen federal funding, Chelan County has secured access to its $9.275 million Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) for wildfire risk reduction in the Leavenworth area. 

The federal grant supports five years of hazardous fuels reduction, evacuation route improvement, and implementation of remote water tanks for firefighting response in priority landscapes, such as Chumstick Highway, Upper Lake Wenatchee, and Nason areas. The work will be led by a number of group of organizations and agencies, such as Chelan County Fire District #3, Lake Wenatchee Fire and Rescue, Chumstick Wildfire Stewardship Coalition, and Cascadia Conservation District, to name a few.

In early February, the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the grant facilitator, lost access to $180 million in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act funding amid the Trump administration’s spending freeze. According to DNR Communications Director Michael Kelly, $90 million of which was designated for wildfire prevention, suppression, resilience, and forest health. 

Kelly previously told Ward Media that there was no official communication from the federal government about why it was frozen or when it would be made available. Without confirmation of funding, the DNR moved to pause the execution of pending grant agreements, including Chelan County’s CWDG funding.

Within the last several weeks, the DNR regained access to the funding, although some funds remain inaccessible. According to Kelly, program staff and grant managers evaluated grants and contracts for resumption on a case-by-case basis.

“Just like when the funds were frozen originally, there has been no official communication. Any information we’ve received has come through staff-to-staff conversations,” said DNR Communications Director Michael Kelly in an email to Ward Media.

Chelan County Natural Resources Director Mike Kaputa confirmed that the county received the signed agreement in the first week of April, guaranteeing funding for work in the 2025 season.

“The whole time we continued with our planning…So as soon as we got the money, we were able to start sending out emails to homeowners we already had lined up [for defensible space fuels treatment],” Fire District #3 Deputy Chief Mike Smith. The fire district’s goal is to treat 40 properties per year over the five-year grant.

At the state level, the DNR’s concerns lie with expectations of a “degraded federal partner” going into the 2025 wildfire season, due to the firing of staff at a federal level and the delay in the U.S. Forest Service hiring seasonal staff, said Kelly.

“But we are preparing for wildfire season as we always do – hiring and training our seasonal staff, locking in our exclusive-use aircraft contracts, planning to pre-position our air and other resources across the state, and making sure we are in regular communication with our local, Tribal, and federal partners,” said Kelly.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media