The Nature Conservancy, USDA Forest Service Launch $2.1 Million Forest Restoration and Wildfire Risk Reduction Projects in Idaho and Wyoming
Media Contacts
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Claire Cornell
Senior Communications Manager
The Nature Conservancy in Idaho
Phone: 208-350-2206
Email: claire.cornell@tnc.org -
Paige Cohn
Media Manager
The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming
Email: paige.cohn@tnc.org
The Nature Conservancy and the USDA Forest Service are pleased to announce the commitment of $2.1 million to expand forest restoration activities across national forests in Idaho and Wyoming. To accomplish this important work, TNC will provide additional workforce capacity to support prescribed fire, ecological thinning and other restoration activities that improve forest health and make communities safer by reducing hazardous overgrowth that fuels extreme wildfire.
The work will focus on national forests within the wildland-urban interface (WUI) where the Forest Service and TNC have existing partnerships, including the Caribou-Targhee, Payette and Salmon-Challis National Forests in Idaho and the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming.
Under mutual interest agreements, TNC fire crews will support prescribed fire prep work, such as thinning crowded trees and overgrown brush, burning slash piles and broadcast burning, and data collection/monitoring the effects of prescribed fire. In some places, crews will engage with local communities through workshops designed to help homeowners in the WUI reduce their wildfire risk.
TNC has spent years developing strong partnerships with the U.S. Forest Service. This agreement enables us to expand proven, proactive restoration strategies and make an even bigger impact for forests and communities in Idaho and Wyoming.
This partnership helps advance the goals of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy and the Forest Service’s Active Forest Management Strategy by supporting prescribed fire, restorative forest thinning projects and fire practitioner workforce development in high-risk firesheds in Idaho and Wyoming. This partnership addresses workforce capacity gaps and tackles projects in the WUI to create a more diverse and resilient landscape, reduce the severity of future wildfires and protect communities.
“Hazardous fuels reduction projects remain a critical tool for protecting communities across Idaho and Wyoming from the growing threat of high‑severity wildfire. Through the Forest Service’s focus on active management, we are strategically reducing dense vegetation and restoring more natural fire behavior to support the development of healthier, more diverse and more resilient landscapes,” said Great Basin Geographic Area Fire Director Ben Newburn. “Progress at this scale is only possible through strong collaboration. Our partnership with The Nature Conservancy plays an essential role in expanding capacity, aligning scientific expertise and accelerating work that safeguards both communities and forests.”
TNC is uniquely positioned to support this work, including a 60-year history of working with fire and two decades of partnership with the Forest Service. All TNC fire staff are qualified under National Wildfire Coordinating Group standards.
“We know that strategic, proactive activities like forest thinning and prescribed fire can improve ecosystem health, slow wildfire spread and facilitate better wildfire suppression within a landscape,” said Carli Kierstead, TNC Wyoming forest program director. “And even better, when we focus those efforts in the wildland urban interface, we can help reduce wildfire risk to nearby communities.”
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The Nature Conservancy is a global conservation organization dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends. Guided by science, we create innovative, on-the-ground solutions to our world’s toughest challenges so that nature and people can thrive together. We are tackling climate change, conserving lands, waters and oceans at an unprecedented scale, providing food and water sustainably and helping make cities more resilient. The Nature Conservancy is working to make a lasting difference around the world in 86 countries and territories (41 by direct conservation impact and 45 through partners) through a collaborative approach that engages local communities, governments, the private sector, and other partners. For more news, visit our newsroom or follow The Nature Conservancy on LinkedIn.