Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP)

Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs) are authorized and defined in Title I of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (HFRA). CWPP’s represent the best opportunity that communities have to address the challenges of the Wildland-Urban Interface.he A CWPP helps communities define their priorities for the protection of life, property, and shared assets-at-risk from wildfires. Developing a CWPP encourages community members and leaders to have valuable discussions about wildfire preparedness, evacuation planning, and local fire district capabilities. The CWPP increases grant funding opportunities by prioritizing fuel reduction projects around and within the community.

Elements of the CWPP

1. Collaboration: A CWPP must be collaboratively developed by local and state government agencies, in consultation with federal agencies and interested parties. The local county, local fire district and NDF must sign off on the final CWPP document.

2. Prioritized Fuel Reduction: The CWPP must identify and prioritize areas for hazardous fuel reduction treatments and recommend the methods of treatment that will protect at-risk communities and structures. A map of the priority fuel reduction projects is not required but is highly recommended.

3. Treatment of Structure Ignitability: A CWPP must also recommend measures that homeowners can take to reduce the ignitability of structures throughout the area addressed by the plan.

The HFRA requires that three entities must mutually agree to the final
contents of a CWPP:

The applicable local government (e.g. counties or cities);
The local fire department(s); and
The state agency responsible for forest management

Benefits for the Community

The Network assists Community Chapters with the creating or updating your community’s CWPP. An current CWPP provides several benefits to your community, such as:

The opportunity to establish a locally appropriate definition and
boundary for the WUI.
Community Hazard Assessments for firefighters to use for fire pre-planning
A list of priority fuel reduction projects for your community to implement
The requirement for federal agencies, when planning fuel reduction
projects, to give priority to projects that provide for the protection of
at-risk-communities or watersheds, or that implement
recommendations in a CWPP.