| Phoenix, July 7, 2020 – Today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey agreed to a collaborative new framework to increase coordination and cooperation for work addressing forest health risks and wildfire across the state.
Arizona’s Shared Stewardship Memorandum of Understanding would help accelerate the pace and scale of projects like 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 Secretary 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,” said Governor Ducey. “The mutual commitments outlined in today’s Memorandum of Understanding will further these 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 (PDF, 14 MB) the 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.
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