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Tribal Wildfire Resilience Grant Solicitation 2025

Grantor:
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
Portal ID:
85208
Status:
Forecasted
Opportunity Type:
  • Grant
Last Updated:
Categories:

Details

Purpose:

Tribal Wildfire Resilience grants is part of CAL FIRE’s Climate and Energy Program and supports California Native American tribes in managing ancestral lands, implementing and promoting Traditional Environmental Knowledges in wildfire resilience, and establishing wildfire safety for tribal communities.

Description:

Tribal Wildfire Resilience grants fund planning and implementation projects that serve California Native American Tribes and advance wildfire resilience, forest health, and cultural use of fire. These projects address critical needs in tribal communities, and may include:

  • Cultural and prescribed burns
  • Creation and maintenance of shaded fuel breaks
  • Forest and wildfire resilience projects such as dead and dying tree removal, understory thinning and/or removal, tree or other native and/or traditional vegetation plantings
  • Forest health projects that provide benefits such as increasing biodiversity and improving access to and use of traditional foods and culturally significant species
  • Workforce Development and training programs in fire, forestry, and related Traditional Ecological Knowledges
  • Mapping projects
  • Development of restoration plans, fire or forest management plans
  • Biological and cultural surveys
  • Environmental compliance and permitting

Eligibility Requirements

Eligible Applicants:

  • Nonprofit
  • Tribal Government

1) Native American Tribes that are Federally recognized.
2) Non-federally recognized Tribes on the California Native American Heritage Commission’s Contact List of California Native Tribes
3) Tribally led non-profit with documentation.

Eligible Geographies:

Ancestral homelands within California (as defined by the applying tribe) are eligible.

The grantee must have long-term access to the land. If the grantee does not currently have legal jurisdiction or ownership of the project area, then there must be a long-term access or co-management agreement for the grantee tribe for that land. The application will have a section to describe this. 

Important Dates

The date on which the grantor expects to announce the recipient(s) of the grant.
Summer 2025
The length of time during which the grant money must be utilized.
Proposals Due 3/2025
Anticipated Open Date
January 2025

Funding Details

The total projected dollar amount of the grant.
See Notes Below
A single grant opportunity may represent one or many awards. Some grantors may know in advance the exact number of awards to be given. Others may indicate a range. Some may wish to and wait until the application period closes before determining how many awards to offer; in this case, a value of “Dependent” will display.
Dependent
Grant opportunities representing multiple awards may offer awards in the same amount or in varied amounts. Some may wish to wait until the application period closes before determining per-award amounts; in this case, a value of “Dependent” will display.
$250,000 – $3,000,000
Certain grants require that the recipient(s) provide a letter of intent.
No
Certain grants require that the recipient(s) be able to fully or partially match the grant award amount with another funding source.
No

Available Funding Notes:

Up to $5M.

The funding source allocated to fund the grant. It may be either State or Federal (or a combination of both), and be tied to a specific piece of legislation, a proposition, or a bond number.
  • State

Funding Source Notes:

Several funding sources may be used for these grants. Tribal Wildfire Resilience Program will determine the funding source for each awarded project based on the fit of each proposal to the goals and requirements of available funding sources.

Some grant awards may include California Climate Investments (CCI) funding from the state’s Cap-and-Trade program. Additional information will be requested for all projects being considered for CCI funding. 

The manner in which the grant funding will be delivered to the awardee. Funding methods include reimbursements (where the recipient spends out-of-pocket and is reimbursed by the grantor) and advances (where the recipient spends received grant funds directly).
  • Advances & Reimbursement(s)

Funding Method Notes:

Payments will be made on a reimbursement basis (i.e., the grantee pays for services, products or supplies; invoices CAL FIRE for the same; and the State reimburses the grantee upon approval of the invoice).

Advance payments may be considered for nonprofit organizations and California Native American tribes.

Limited Waivers of Sovereign Immunity (LWSI) will be required for Federally recognized Tribes to utilize advance payments. 

How to Apply

State agencies/departments recommend you read the full grant guidelines before applying.

Resources

For questions about this grant, contact:
Robin Bellows, TribalWildfireResilienceGrants@fire.ca.gov

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