The Department of the Interior is allocating $20 million to help rural and tribal communities respond to wildfires, specifically for the Slip-on Tanker Pilot program. This program allows communities to retrofit a regular truck to carry additional water to fires.
Smaller, rural communities and tribal communities face a very different set of challenges than people who live in urban communities face. Some of these issues include a remote location and a lack of funding for equipment.
Programs such as the tanker pilot program help address specific needs, said Erik Stegman, CEO of the nonprofit organization Native Americans in Philanthropy. In some cases, tribes can’t even use a traditional fire truck.
“And oftentimes those kinds of vehicles aren’t even adequate for the kinds of roads and other things that tribes and rural communities have to tackle,” he said.
This $20 million is the second round of funding available, and grant amounts will range from $10,000 to $500,000. In September, the Department of the Interior awarded $1.3 million to 21 fire agencies in the West, including communities in Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Utah.
“These slip-on tankers fit on to trucks and they’re able to be a force multiplier for local communities and these communities can share resources,” said Joan Mooney, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Management and Budget at the Department of Interior. Programs like this play a “vital role in protecting that community and also the public lands that surround it.”
There’s also the element of traditional practices for preserving and protecting natural resources.
“That’s been a challenge for generations,” Segman said. “Tribes are really trying to restore those practices because they understand best, for generations, how to actually manage those particular kinds of wildfires on their lands.”
Federal funding for tribal wildfire resilience are dispersed via a separate fund specific to Indigenous communities.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio (KNPR) in Las Vegas, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
