MISSOULA — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently awarded $50 million in grant money to various Montana agencies in hopes of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The agencies receiving the grant funding are the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC), the Montana Department of Agriculture and the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
The funding will go towards several operations that the departments manage, including forest management and wildfire mitigation as well as working with farmers to help reduce methane and ammonia emissions.
In addition to attempting to manage these emissions, the funding will be used in an effort to reduce the emissions from coal seam fires and wildfires — both of which add enormous amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
The funding from the EPA came from money allotted in the Inflation Reduction Act and should be to the various Montana agencies by late fall and be dispersed over a five year period.
“You know, the primary mission of this funding, it really is addressing the greenhouse gas emission. And, you know, I think this application that we pulled together with this coalition really kind of serves multiple purposes, you know, and it hits it, working lands, it hits it many things," said DNRC administrator Mark Bostrom. "So there's a lot of good secondary effects too. So one plus one equals three and you know, way to get to work on this."
Besides the goal of reducing emissions, the agencies will also work with typically under-served communities to help their urban forest environments by increasing the number of trees in the areas and increasing canopy cover.
The agencies will also work to plant 2.5 million trees over the five year period of the grant with many of those trees going into urban interfaces.
This funding will amplify the existing state and federal funding that the agencies receive and it's hoped that the new money will help bolster existing efforts to reduce emissions across the state and help lead the rest of the country.
