The Trump administration withheld for months millions of dollars in wildfire-prevention funds from Washington communities now fighting wildfires that have forced the evacuation of 65,000 residents.
Two organizations in the Spokane area of eastern Washington say they are still awaiting $15 million in grants the Forest Service announced in September 2025 for projects to reduce wildfire risk. The groups expected the money months ago.
The grants are among billions of dollars in Agriculture Department funding held up in a dispute over a new USDA policy requiring states to follow administration policy on immigration and diversity to receive an array of funds.
It is unclear if the grant money would have affected the three wildfires that started Saturday in the Spokane area and have destroyed or damaged more than 900 buildings. More than 10,400 acres have been burned by the wildfires, which were roughly 10 percent contained Thursday afternoon, according to a federal wildfire website.
Grant-funded activities would just be getting started if the money had arrived on time, said Spokane Conservation District Operations Director Cori Turntine.
But wildfire experts in Spokane are concerned about the delays and say that forest-thinning is key to reducing local burn risks.
“Fuel reduction is really important because it has the potential to change fire behavior,” said Lance Dahl, assistant chief at the Spokane Fire Department. Thinning trees and removing dead vegetation that propels flames from the ground to higher branches can reduce the size and severity of a blaze.
The two grant-funded projects would help the Spokane metro area, whose 600,000 residents face high wildfire risk because so many people live in forested areas that are becoming increasingly dry amid hotter temperatures.
USDA did not answer questions about its new policy or whether the Spokane disaster has prompted discussion about the requirements for wildfire-prevention funds.
“We are working closely with our state, local, and federal partners to provide every available resource,” USDA said in a statement, adding that 242 agency personnel were at the Spokane wildfires.
The $15 million includes $9.3 million for the Spokane Conservation District to “mitigate increasing wildfire risks in [Spokane] county and $5.5 million for the Spokane Valley Fire Department “to significantly reduce wildfire risks in Spokane Valley,” according to USDA.
“This work helps tame wildfire as it moves from the wildland into urban and residential areas,” Spokane Valley Fire Department Deputy Chief Brett Anderson said in an email Thursday.
The grants come from the $1 billion Community Wildfire Defense program created in 2022 by President Joe Biden through his massive bipartisan infrastructure law enacted in 2021. The Forest Service awards $200 million a year to the top applicants. The $15 million was part of the third year of funding.
But before releasing the latest funding, USDA rolled out a series of new terms and conditions for states to receive grant funds. They require states to comply with Trump administration priorities such as its massive deportation effort and elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
After 20 Democratic-led states including Washington sued to overturn the policy, a federal judge blocked it in June, leading agencies to sign grant agreements that will let funds begin flowing. USDA and the Washington State Department of Natural Resources said the wildfire grants were signed in July. It is unclear when money will be released.
Washington declined to sign the policy attached to USDA grants because it conflicts with state laws including a restriction on state involvement with immigration enforcement activities.
Environmental advocates criticized the administration for trying to require USDA recipients to follow its directives on issues unrelated to the funding.
“That idea that funding to mitigate catastrophic wildfires would be subject to shifting federal government priorities is really dangerous,” Brittany Fallon, a policy manager at Western Resource Advocates environmental group, said Thursday.
“It’s really frustrating to apply these ideological screens to things that aren’t ideological,” said Athan Manuel, director of the Sierra Club’s lands protection program. “These communities are made up of taxpayers who fund these agencies, and their tax dollars should be able to come back to them in terms of helping to fight fires. They shouldn’t have to jump through hoops related to DEI.”
Representatives from the Spokane Valley Fire Department and the Spokane Conservation District say the Washington State Department of Natural Resources has recently sent them a draft funding agreement.
The conservation district plans to use its grant to thin local forests and help residents remove vegetation near their homes and make their properties more resilient to wildfires.
Dahl of the Spokane Fire Department said the funding will help neighboring communities to work together on wildfire prevention.
“We really are in partnership with the county and other agencies in the state and private organizations so we can tie these fuel treatment models together,” Dahl said. “It doesn’t help if I treat my 4,000 acres and the 100 acres next to me is where the fire starts.”
