About Us

Wildfire Resilience Coalition

The Wildfire Resilience Coalition (WRC) seeks to help federal, Tribal, state, local, and private partners realize transformational change in how wildfire risk is managed in the United States. A critical component of this work will be to leverage the investments and authorities for wildfire resilience in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to that end. Our members include key stakeholders, partners, and implementers who are critical to successful implementation across all lands and is intended to offer a focal point for engagement among diverse interests within the administration, Congress, and policy and opinion leaders.

Why a Coalition

The members of the WRC aim to both support the leaders of federal land and fire management agencies as they implement this surge in funding in a way that breaks from the status quo and offers a platform for shared accountability. Improving implementation of these investments requires better coordination with partners on shared outcomes, more transparency in prioritization of investments, and expedited implementation of science-based mitigation measures.

Timely, but ultimately effective, implementation of key IIJA and IRA provisions are necessary to ensure continued Congressional and public support for the long-term investments required to protect communities, restore healthy forests and rangelands, maintain important source watershed functions, sustain abundant fish and wildlife populations, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from unnaturally large and severe wildfires.

Our History

Building on the success of the diverse coalition that led to the 2018 Fire Fix, organizations and individuals within the conservation and forest community seek to come together again to focus efforts around wildfire resilience through implementation of recent federal funding surges. In early summer 2022 and recognizing the need to address both the wildfire crisis and the recent passage of once-in-a-generation forest health-related funding legislation, conservation partners sensed an opportunity to come together to articulate a paradigm shift to mitigate wildfire risk.

Formally launched in late Fall 2022 and modelled on prior coalition efforts, the Wildfire Resilience Coalition (WRC) seeks to identify and resolve barriers and create a community of accountability to realize the potential in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) investments as a critical step towards that paradigm shift. Comprised of stakeholders at local, regional, and national levels in federal, state, Tribal, industry, conservation, community, and academic groups, founding members of the coalition agreed to a charter in early 2023 to affirm their collaborative work focusing on two of the three tenets of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy — Resilient Landscapes and Fire-Adapted Communities.

Investment

From 2021 to 2022, Congress passed a series of once-in-a-generation investments through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022. Together, these acts comprise an impressive down payment on identified preventative measures and targeted recovery actions addressing the mounting wildfire crisis.

For the first time, programs to reduce risk and build resilience are being funded at levels that begin to approach the scale and scope of the challenges at hand. This surge in spending holds great promise for transformational change and rebalances expenditures to more closely meet wildfire resilience investment needs in the United States. It offers an opportunity to bring new strategic focus, innovation, coordination, inclusion, and accountability to the programs, agencies, and partners supporting wildfire resilience, while maximizing co-benefits for wildlife habitat, water and infrastructure security, and economic opportunity. However, new funding alone is insufficient to advance transformational change.