Community Wildfire Defense Grants: A Round Three Application Primer

LAST UPDATED: 11/21/24

Editor’s note: This post is designed to help communities navigate the third round of applications for the Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) Program. This post was originally published on October 31, 2024 and has been updated with links and new information as more information has been released. As always, the best source of information for any federal grant program is the Forest Service’s official CWDG webpage and the Notice of Funding Opportunity, available on grants.gov.

The U.S. Forest Service’s Community Wildfire Defense Grant opened its third round of funding today, November 21st, 2024! The grant supports communities and Tribes in planning and implementing wildfire risk mitigation projects. Forest Service program managers announced that up to $200 million will be available this round, and the 100-day application window will close at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time February 28th, 2025.

What is CWDG?

This grant program, which was rolled out in 2022, supports local communities and Tribes in planning for wildfires and implementing projects to reduce their wildfire risk. The program prioritizes at-risk communities in areas identified as having high or very high wildfire hazard potential, communities that are low-income, and/or communities that have been impacted by a severe disaster that impacts wildfire risk. Funding can be used to develop or revise a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) or implement projects described in a CWPP, or equivalent plan, that is less than 10 years old. 

The CWDG grant is quite competitive – in the most recent round of funding, $260 million in grants were awarded out of $975 million requested – so applicants are encouraged to begin working on their applications as early as possible. 

Take a look at the tips and resources below as a great place to start!

Go-to websites

Here are some key websites you should bookmark and review for official guidance on the program. 

• Forest Service CWDG website: This is where you will find a link to the official Notice of Funding Opportunity, or NOFO, helpful links and resources, and information about webinars, office hours, and other opportunities to learn more about the program.
• Notices of Funding Opportunity: The Fiscal Year 2025 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), which is posted at grants.gov, is the official source for up-to-date grant information, scoring criteria, application process and more. The following are links to regional and Tribal-specific NOFOs. Once on the webpage for that NOFO, navigate to “Related Documents” then click on the “Full Announcement-NOFO-2024 (FY25) CWDG” folder to download the document.
  • Southern Region 
  • Northeast/Midwest Region
  • Western Region
  • Tribal applicants (Tribes may, but do not have to, use this NOFO)

• CWDG dashboard tool: Communities can search for their county, municipality, or tribal reservation via this easy-to-use tool to determine if they are eligible and meet priority and match waiver criteria for the program. Note: This tool has been updated with new data and modified thresholds for some criteria, which has impacted communities’ eligibility. Read about the changes and what they mean for applicants on the FAQ page. Additionally, if the data on this site does not show you as eligible or having priority, you may still be able to meet those thresholds by referencing different datasets that better represent your community.
• CWDG.forestrygrants.org: This is a repository of all prior CWDG applications. Use the top search filters to sort applications by region, state/keyword, and average review score
• Your state’s CWDG program page (if applicable): Some states have dedicated CWDG webpages, which include additional information, resources, and contact information. For example, the Washington Department of Natural Resources and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources each have their own CWDG websites.

Program Informational Webinars and Office Hours

The Forest Service will be offering three applicant informational webinars. Links can be found on the Forest Service’s CWDG webpage; attendees are asked to register in advance:

• Monday, December 2, 2024, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. Eastern 
• Wednesday, December 4, 2024, 12:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (Tribal focused):
• Friday, December 6, 2024, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time:

Getting grant-ready

Here are some important initial steps for determining your eligibility and developing a proposal. 

• Read the Notice of Funding Opportunity! Pay particular attention to the grant deadline (Feb. 28th, 2025), submission instructions, scoring criteria, and grant waiver instructions of the program, projects that do not meet priority criteria are very unlikely to be successful).
• Identify and connect with your state or federal point of contact. This person should be listed in the NOFO. Applicants will need to get a link from their state or federal point of contact to input and submit an application. Connecting with this person early on is also important because they can help ensure your project aligns with program purpose and eligibility and can help answer questions, brainstorm ideas, and troubleshoot challenges. 
• Check to make sure your community is eligible to apply and meets the three priority criteria for CWDG (due to the competitive nature of the program, projects that do not meet priority criteria are very unlikely to be successful).
  • To be eligible, communities must have at least moderate wildfire risk, based on the CWDG tool or state or local wildfire risk data. If your community doesn’t show up as “at risk” in the tool, ask your point of contact about other risk model options or explore our compilation of  Wildfire Risk Maps and Assessment Portals (WRAP) that may better represent your community’s risk. Note: As a reminder the CWDG tool has been updated from Round 2 with new data and thresholds that may have impacts to communities’ eligibility. Those changes are explained in the FAQ section and are reflected in the search function.
  • To meet priority criteria (also searchable via the CWDG tool), projects must: be located in an area identified as having a high or very high wildfire hazard potential; benefit a low-income community; be located in a community impacted by a severe disaster within the previous 10 years. If the tool does not show your community as meeting priority criteria thresholds, applicants are welcome to use other datasets.
• Investigate whether your community qualifies for a match waiver. CWDG allows match requirements to be waived for underserved communities, Indian Tribes, Alaska Native Corporations, Pacific Island territories and the U.S. Virgin Islands. During the application process, you will need to provide documentation to demonstrate that you meet the waiver requirements. Documentation can be obtained from the CWDG tool (Cost-Share Waiver section is at the bottom of the results page), or having at least one census tract identified as “disadvantaged” in the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST).
• Register for SAM.gov and Grants.gov! Registering on these federal websites is a required step for any entity to apply for and receive federal funding. Get this done early as SAM.gov registration can take several weeks. Here are a few resources to support you along the way: 
  • This two-page reference document, developed by FAC Net with input from another Community Navigator initiative partner outlines the basic steps for registering on SAM.gov and Grants.gov as well as troubleshooting resources for these portals.
  • For additional 1:1 support, connect with APEX Accelerators, a group of state and county-level service providers dedicated to helping organizations and businesses complete registration on federal portals and databases.
• Get familiar with a few important local, state, and national wildfire and forest planning documents. CWDG projects are expected to align with and build from the priorities and intent of their local CWPP or hazard mitigation plan, their state or territory’s Forest Action Plan (or equivalent Tribal plan) and the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy. As you begin thinking about the elements of a proposal, start reviewing the following documents.
  • The National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy
  • Your State Forest Action Plan (we compiled this list of plans for states and territories)
  • Your local Community Wildfire Protection Plan, FEMA-approved Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan and/or Tribal hazard mitigation plan.

• Start thinking about partners to involve in the CWDG proposal. The application asks about your collaborators and how they will add value, support project sustainability and amplify impact.
  • Who might be missing? The FAC Wheel frameworks outlining the who, what, and when of fire adaptation work can help you think through which partners should be involved based on your project vision.
• Read up on federal regulations about subawarding and contracting if you plan to include those funding mechanisms in your project: CFR 200.331 Subrecipient and contractor determinations
• Take a look through a few high scoring applications, especially those that seem to align with your proposal idea. To find these applications, go to the CWDG application portal (cwdg.forestrygrants.org), click on prior years’ grant rounds then click on the “sort applications” hyperlink at the top of the page and choose to sort by average review score (see screenshots below).
  • The CWDG program staff also compiled CWDG Application Answer Narrative Examples, which shows high and low-scoring narrative answers from Round 1. 

Project-specific tips

As you start developing your proposal here are some considerations for.. 

If you will be applying for a grant to develop or update a CWPP…

• Review applicable state guidance to ensure your proposal addresses any additional requirements or recommendations for plan development from the state. For example, see Washington’s guidance, and Colorado’s guidance.  
• Check out this one-pager from the Community Navigators initiative for a quick snapshot of the process of developing a CWPP, along with estimated costs and timelines. 
• Watch our Community Navigators webinar: Community Wildfire Protection Planning with The Ember Alliance (also available in Spanish) which provides a more in-depth overview of CWPPs and the process for developing one, including public engagement, risk assessments, and cost and timeline considerations. 
• Start thinking about possible elements to incorporate in a CWPP project. The FAC Wheel and the FAC Pathways Tool can help foster broader thinking about the various elements of community wildfire adaptation that this plan may encompass.  
• Start thinking about what sort of community engagement will be a part of your CWPP development process. Will that include public meetings? Interactive mapping exercises? Surveys? You’ll want to have a clear idea of those activities and their timelines, costs, and collaborating partners when writing your CWPP proposal. These resources are a great place to start:
  • FAC Net’s Inclusive Community Engagement Guide for CWPPs
  • Community Mapping for Wildfire Resilience
• Take a look at other CWPPs to get a sense for what the final product may encompass. Check out the CWPP database on Fireadapted.org, or these examples shared by the Ember Alliance and Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization.

If you will be applying for a grant to implement a project included in a CWPP (or other equivalent plan)…

• Read through your local Community Wildfire Protection Plan, Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan, or Tribal hazard mitigation plan to identify high priority projects ripe for action that could be combined into a grant proposal. 
• Consider which partners are needed to implement the projects should they be funded. What sort of buy-in or commitment do you need to get prior to application submission? What sort of working relationship do you envision throughout the project? application submission? What sort of working relationship do you envision throughout the project?
  • Tools in this Collaborative Implementation Workbook can help partners think through the nature of collaborative relationships that could be most appropriate for their work together. 

And finally, a few last reminders and helpful hints: 

The following are a few more topic-specific takeaways we heard from past applicants.

• Severe disaster impact: Applications are given priority points if ​located in a community impacted by severe disaster that impacted wildfire risk or hazard within the past 10 years. Be prepared to list the declared disaster(s) identified via the CWDG tool and, in the second part of the question, provide a narrative description that demonstrates how the disaster has impacted your community’s wildfire risk. 
• Sustainability: Applicants are asked to explain how the project and the project’s benefits will be carried forward beyond the life of the grant. Provide concrete ideas for how partners will continue to sustain the intent and goals of the project, whether that be through a CWPP action committee or stated commitments by various collaborators to continue to move projects forward..

While these are helpful tips from our work with communities on CWDG application review and CWPP development, the best source of information for CWDG and any other federal program is the NOFO and official sources of guidance, available on grants.gov.

Additionally, thanks to support from the Forest Service’s Community Navigators initiative, we are working with several of our amazing FAC Net member organizations, as well as contractors and other partners to provide individualized support for CWDG applications. For those interested in applying for this grant, Community Navigators can help with proposal development, application review, federal portal registration, or other needs. Simply fill out our interest form here to be connected to a navigator.

FAC Net staff will continue to update this page with any additional resources or program informational offerings. If you aren’t on our list, make sure to subscribe today!

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