Texas A&M Forest Service awarded $155,000 to Central Texas landowners for wildfire mitigation practices through the Mechanical Fuel Reduction Grant program this spring.

a cleared area below trees after mechanical wildfire mitigation practices were conducted
Mechanical treatment reduces the intensity of wildfire by removing fuels like shrubs, small trees and ladder fuels in canopy understories. (Texas A&M Forest Service)

The cost-share reimbursement grant offers financial assistance to Central Texas landowners to reduce the risk of home loss to wildfire through fuel reduction practices, including hand-cut and mulching treatments.

“The Mechanical Fuel Reduction Grant helps landowners take proactive measures that will help protect their homes, land and community,” said Victoria Wenkman, Texas A&M Forest Service community resilience program specialist.

“Private landowners and local fire departments are the first lines of defense against wildfire. Creating fuel breaks and defensible spaces on their own properties can help reduce the risk and severity of wildfires.”

Risk-reducing practices

Funding reimburses landowners for the costs associated with creating defensible spaces and fuel breaks using chainsaws or mechanical mulching using mechanical brush cutters, forestry mulchers and similar equipment.

Fuel reduction includes the removal of excessive or hazardous fuels such as vegetative debris, immature trees, shrubs and dead or downed branches. Shrubs and small trees can serve as ladder fuels, which can carry a ground fire into the crown of trees, increasing the complexity of the fire.

Fuel breaks are sections where vegetation is removed to help decrease the intensity of fires, protect first responders by providing wide access lanes and slow the spread of incoming wildfires.

“A fuel break can also benefit native vegetation and wildlife, allowing for shaded fuel breaks where large native trees remain and smaller invasive species are removed,” said Wenkman.

Defensible spaces are natural or created areas spanning at least 30 feet around a structure where combustible material has been cleared or removed, providing a barrier between an advancing wildfire. 

Fall application period set

Thirty-nine Central Texas counties were eligible for funding this spring. Since 2005, those counties have experienced a combined 1,722 wildfires, burning 1,010,398 acres.

The Mechanical Fuel Reduction program will accept new applications this fall from landowners in 33 Central Texas counties from Aug. 1 through Sept. 12.

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