Wildfire mitigation funding in Lake County, Montana
1 program on file for this county, 1 of them open to individual homeowners. County programs are the most useful and the least visible tier of wildfire funding, because they sit on fire safe council and public works pages that nobody aggregates.
✓Every program checked against the agency that runs it · last verified 2026-07-31
Open to homeowners
You can apply for these yourself as an individual property owner.
Lake County Fire Mitigation Program
HomeownersLake County Fire Mitigation Office
No published award amount
Lake County staffs its own Fire Mitigation Office that helps landowners apply for state and federal money to treat forested land on their property. Covered work includes thinning timber, pruning, and slash disposal, and staff will also make recommendations for the Home Ignition Zone (the 100 feet immediately around the house). There is a county Fire Mitigation Application form and a contractor questionnaire on the county site. The county does not publish a cost-share percentage or dollar cap, so you'll need to ask what funding is currently open. Contact Carey Cooley at 406-314-0829 or ccooley@lakemt.gov.
Federal programs open to homeowners
These apply in Lake County the same as anywhere else. Verified 2026-07-31.
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
Eligibility-based overview, not a quote and not a guarantee. Program budgets open and exhaust during the year, so confirm current availability with the program itself before counting on it. Amounts are as each program publishes them. FireRisk.ai is not affiliated with any agency listed here and is never paid for these listings.
Everything that applies to your exact address
This page covers Lake County. The checker adds the Montana state programs, the tax position and the insurance discounts you may qualify for, all in one pass.
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