(bright upbeat music) - I'm Starla Sampaco, in the Crosscut KCTS 9 newsroom.

Billions of federal dollars are headed to Western forests to manage fires.

A recent US Department of Agriculture announcement, adds nearly $3 billion more to the nation's forest restoration efforts and fire reduction, especially, on federal forest lands in the heart of Washington's fire country and in 10 other Western states.

The accompanying plan incorporates the newest science and reflects indigenous stewardship practices.

This comes less than a year, after Washington State committed $328 million, towards improving forest health and reducing the impacts of climate-charged catastrophic wildfire.

More than half of Washington's landscape is forested, and the state has seen more than 7% of its acreage burned since 2015.

Of the 3.1 million homes in Washington, about 1 million are threatened by wildfire.

I'm Starla Sampaco, via nonprofit Northwest News every day on crosscut.com.

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