Cooperative Extension seeks $15,000 match for statewide grant to update 12-year-old Barnstable County wildfire plan; highlights Sea Grant and coastal resilience

Cape Cod Cooperative Extension directors presented a mostly level-funded FY26 budget to the Barnstable County commissioners on Jan. 22, 2025, and requested a $15,000 county contribution to match a $50,000 commitment from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation to update the county’s regional wildfire plan.

Mike McGuire, director of Cape Cod Cooperative Extension, said the existing wildfire plan is about 12 years old and needs updates because development patterns and wildfire risk have changed. He described the county request as roughly $1,000 per town to match the state commitment and said the state would take the procurement lead on hiring a contractor to rewrite or substantially refresh plans for each of the 15 Cape towns.

McGuire outlined a two-step process if the county approves the match: DCR would procure the contractor and Extension staff would lead town-level meetings to collect current data, identify concerns and shepherd each community to adopt a modified wildfire plan. The update would include public hearings in each town and could be followed by implementation funding requests for mechanical vegetation removal, controlled burns, equipment purchases and training—actions McGuire said would be necessary to move from planning to on‑the‑ground prevention.

Cooperative Extension deputy director Shannon Hulse described parallel coastal resilience work supported by Sea Grant and other federal and state funds. She said the extension has increased capacity for coastal resilience and nutrition programs and is pursuing federal funds to help homeowners elevate and mitigate structures—work the department will regionalize to relieve capacity pressure on towns.

Why it matters: the wildfire-plan update would create a uniform approach across Barnstable County towns and position the region to be ready for competitive state and federal hazard‑mitigation funding. Commissioners encouraged Extension to pursue tribal partnerships; McGuire said Extension already partners with tribal natural‑resource managers on marine program work and will reach out to the Mashpee Wampanoag tribal partners on wildfire planning.

Ending: Commissioners signaled support for updating the wildfire plan and for using the DCR matching opportunity to prepare communities for follow-up implementation grants and training; the Extension will return with further details if the Board approves the $15,000 match.