BIA to provide $3.9 million for CCT reforestation

The Bureau of Indian Affairs will provide the Colville Confederated Tribes with $3.9 million to reforest areas devastated by the catastrophic 2015 wildfire season, according to a CCT Aug. 29 press release.

The BIA is providing the $3,899,148 in response to letters from both the CCT and Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA).

The North Star Fire in 2015 burned a state record 218,138 acres, and in combination with the 165,918-acre Tunk Block Fire burned about 600 square miles of forage and forest on and off the reservation.

“Our Forestry Management and Natural Resources Division works tirelessly to keep our forests healthy,” said Chairman Dr. Michael E. Marchand. “Our communities were deeply affected by these wildfires. This funding will go directly toward our resources, land and traditional stabilization of a healthy forest, and that includes many different kinds of trees, huckleberries and jobs for the men and women who are stewards to this land.”

Replanting and restoration of the Colville Reservation forest will be a multi-year undertaking, Marchand said, and added that additional funding will be needed in the coming fiscal years.