USDA and Arizona sign shared stewardship MOU to reduce wildfire risk
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey have agreed to a collaborative new framework to increase coordination and cooperation for work addressing forest health risks and wildfire across the state of Arizona.
Arizona's Shared Stewardship Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), would help accelerate the pace and scale of projects such as the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) that protect communities from wildfire and create healthy, resilient landscapes.
“This Memorandum of Understanding strengthens the already strong partnership between the Forest Service and the State of Arizona,” said Perdue.
“Through Shared Stewardship, Arizona and the Forest Service are working together to identify landscape-scale priorities and build capacity to improve forest conditions.”
“In Arizona we know addressing the threat of wildfire is a team effort that requires constant collaboration across local, state, and federal levels,” Ducey said.
“The mutual commitments outlined in the recent Memorandum of Understanding will further key partnerships — making Arizona communities better protected against catastrophic wildfires. My sincere thanks to Secretary Perdue for his continued partnership with Arizona and dedication to responsible forest management.”
The Memorandum of Understanding is the latest addition to the collaborative restoration and wildfire risk reduction efforts between the Forest Service and the state of Arizona and it follows the outcome-based investment strategy that Forests Service began implementing in 2018.
Arizona is the 14th state to agree to a Shared Stewardship framework, which uses a modern and collaborative approach to focus on landscape-scale forest restoration activities that protect at-risk communities and watersheds across all lands.
The Memorandum of Understanding with Arizona focuses on restoring fire-adapted ecosystems and reducing the risk of wildfire to communities; identifying, managing, and reducing threats to forest and ecosystem health; and fostering economic development strategies that keep working forests productive.