State opens a new grant program funded by the 2024 climate bond as California heads into another fire season
Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday announced the availability of up to $30 million through a new state grant program aimed at reducing wildfire risk and improving the health of California’s natural landscapes. The Regional Wildfire and Landscape Resilience Grant Program, administered by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, is designed to fund large-scale projects across forested and non-forested areas as the state moves into another fire season.
The program is funded by Proposition 4, the climate bond California voters approved in 2024. According to the Governor’s Office, the new grants will support work intended to prevent wildfires before they start, restore the health of forests and wildlands, improve public health, and reduce the risk of fire spreading into populated areas.
What The Grants Will Fund
The Regional Wildfire and Landscape Resilience Grant Program is structured around large-scale treatment rather than single-site projects. CAL FIRE says the program aims to accelerate forest and wildland treatments, build local capacity to carry out that work, improve landscape health, and reduce wildfire risk to communities.
Eligible projects can include landscape resilience treatments in both forested and non-forested areas, clearing hazardous vegetation near homes and infrastructure, prescribed and cultural burning, pest management, reforestation and revegetation, biomass utilization, and the maintenance of earlier resilience efforts. The breadth of eligible work reflects a shift in state wildfire policy toward treating fire risk as a year-round, landscape-level problem rather than a seasonal emergency.
State officials have repeatedly pointed to the economics of prevention. The Governor’s Office cited research indicating that every $1 spent on wildfire prevention saves $3.75, a figure the administration has used to argue that proactive spending reduces long-term costs.
Part Of A Larger State Push
Wednesday’s announcement was not a standalone measure. It followed a separate round of wildfire funding announced May 8, during Wildfire Preparedness Week, when Newsom announced the availability of up to $70 million through CAL FIRE’s Wildfire Prevention Grants Program. That program focuses on community-level work, including hazardous fuels reduction, evacuation planning, community chipping days, and wildfire prevention education. Applications for that round are due by July 8.
Together, the two announcements represent $100 million in grant funding made available within roughly a week. Both draw on Proposition 4, and both are framed by the administration as part of an ongoing, multi-year commitment rather than a one-time response.
The state has built a substantial track record of grant spending in this area. According to the Governor’s Office, CAL FIRE has awarded more than $1 billion in grants to projects across the state since 2019. Last year alone, Newsom and the Legislature deployed $170 million in voter-approved Proposition 4 funding for wildfire resilience projects.
The Federal Backdrop
The administration tied the new funding to its disagreement with federal wildfire policy. State officials said the Trump administration has cut U.S. Forest Service wildfire landscape treatments by 1.5 million acres heading into fire season, and has proposed eliminating annual block grants that support state, tribal, private landowner, and urban forestry programs in California.
The state also pointed to an April 2025 federal decision to cut a $35 million grant for Napa intended to reduce wildfire threats and support more resilient rebuilding after fires; the federal government described that program as wasteful and ineffective. California is challenging the federal government to restore those funds, along with money for 86 other state hazard mitigation projects.
“In California, wildfire season is year-round, and our readiness has to be year-round too,” Newsom said in a statement accompanying the earlier $70 million announcement. The administration has used that framing consistently across both rounds of funding.
Recent Projects On The Ground
State materials point to recently funded work as evidence of what the grants produce. In Butte County, Forest Health grants have funded treatments across more than 10,000 acres and helped protect the community of Cohasset during the 2024 Park Fire. In Siskiyou County, the Eastside Yreka Community Protection Project is reducing hazardous fuels across 410 acres near homes, evacuation routes, and critical infrastructure.
In Alameda County, the Anthony Chabot Forest Fuels Enhancement Project is treating 556 acres near roughly 22,000 homes in a high-risk wildland-urban interface area. In San Bernardino County, roadside fuel reduction work across 282 acres is improving evacuation routes and helping to protect more than 37,000 structures.
CAL FIRE launched the Regional Wildfire and Landscape Resilience Grant Program with the new round of funding, and the administration says the program is meant to complement, rather than replace, its existing community-focused grants. Public agencies, nonprofits, tribes, and other community organizations working to reduce wildfire risk are among those expected to be eligible to apply.
For California, the announcements arrive at a familiar moment. Hotter, drier conditions have made fire seasons longer and more destructive, and the state has framed its strategy around steady investment in prevention. Whether $30 million in regional grants meaningfully changes outcomes will depend on how the money is spent, how quickly projects move, and how the fire season ahead unfolds.=
