Wildfire mitigation funding in Boise County, Idaho

Boise County Wildfire Mitigation Department (Boise County Emergency Management)

No published award amount

The county's wildfire mitigation office runs a fuels reduction program funded by Idaho Department of Lands and U.S. Forest Service grants and states it works directly with private landowners to remove hazardous fuels and create defensible space. In practice the work is delivered inside specific funded project areas — currently listed as Clear Creek, Lowman, Robie Creek, Wilderness Ranch and Middle Fork Payette — rather than through an open homeowner application. No cost-share percentage or dollar cap is published; contact the Wildfire Mitigation Coordinator to ask whether your parcel sits in an active project.

NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

Cost-share, varies by practice and state

Pays part of the cost of conservation practices on private land, including forest-management and fuels-reduction work that lowers wildfire risk. This is the main federal program an individual landowner can apply to directly.

Who qualifies: Owners of non-industrial private forestland, agricultural producers, and Tribes. A written Forest Management Plan is required before financial assistance is approved. Available practices, funding pools and cutoff dates are set state by state.

• !Property must be non-industrial private forestland or agricultural land — a standard suburban lot generally will not qualify
• !A Forest Management Plan must be written for the property before assistance is approved
• !The agricultural-land route additionally requires a USDA Farm Service Agency farm/tract number, which most residential homeowners do not have
• !Application cutoffs are set per state; contact your local NRCS office for the current window