This funding provides necessary support and coordination for western state foresters

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Region 2 – Rocky Mountain Region, awarded $1.37M to the Council of Western State Foresters (CWSF) under the Cooperative Forestry Assistance program (CFDA 10.664) on August 22, 2025. This five-year project grant, expiring August 21, 2030, provides essential organizational and administrative support to advance forest management objectives across western state forestry agencies. The award funds technical training meetings designed to enhance the delivery and impact of on-the-ground forestry work, the administration of grant review and scoring processes with advisory recommendation development, and strategic leadership convenings to address priority forestry issues in the western United States.

The grant also supports the development of committee workplans to address identified forestry challenges, production of reports and recommendations to streamline administrative processes and identify operational improvements—particularly for Good Neighbor Authority implementation—and execution of other activities necessary to accomplish collective state and national forestry goals. As a membership-based non-profit serving state forestry leadership, CWSF leverages this funding to provide coordination, technical assistance, and policy support that strengthens the capacity and effectiveness of state forestry agencies throughout the region.

Advancing collective state and national goals will include technical training meetings to improve delivery and impact of forestry work on the ground, administering review, scoring and advisory recommendation development grant processes, convening leadership in forestry in the western united states to explore issues that need to be addressed, addressing those issues through relevant committee workplans, developing reports and recommendations to streamline processes and identify administrative improvements, particularly for good neighbor authority, along with other tactics necessary to accomplish advancement of those goals.