Overview
The Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) program provides grants to at-risk communities to develop or revise a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) and to carry out projects described in a CWPP that is less than 10 years old.
CWDG is authorized through the Infrastructure, Investment, and Jobs Act (IIJA) and provides $1 billion for this program over a five-year period (fiscal years 2022 through 2026). CWDG prioritizes at-risk communities that are in an area identified as having high or very high wildfire hazard potential, are low-income, and/or have been impacted by a severe disaster.
CWDG helps communities in the wildland urban interface (WUI) implement the three goals of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (Cohesive Strategy).
Round 3
Announcements
For Round 3, the CWDG tool will only use the low-income criteria for cost-share waiver eligibility. This change was implemented in February 2025, partway through the Round 3 application period. Due to this change, the application deadline has been extended to March 14, 2025.
On September 23, 2025, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke L. Rollins, announced the funding of 58 round 3 applications for about $200 million. The USDA press release announced “the selected projects span 22 states and two tribes, supporting efforts to develop or update their community wildfire protection plans and carry out projects to remove hazardous or overgrown vegetation that can fuel fires that threaten lives, livelihoods, and resources.” View the full list of funded projects.
Timeline
The portal opened for applications on November 21, 2024, and closed on March 14, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.
Application Materials
PDF application for Round 3 - The PDF version is not required but is available to help applicants compile all information offline before adding their application information to the portal application.
To apply for Round 3 of CWDG, please reach out to the point of contact for your State/Island. Point of contact information can be found in the Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) on grants.gov. NOFOs have been updated to reflect recent changes.