Arlington, VA — The Nature Conservancy announces a portfolio of new multiyear agreements with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service to develop the prescribed fire workforce and expand the use of proactive beneficial fire to improve the safety of human communities and the health of natural systems. …Advancing the goals of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy and the Forest Service’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy, the new agreements leverage federal and non-federal funding to support prescribed fire, restorative forest thinning projects, and fire practitioner job training and workforce development, with a focus on fire-adapted landscapes and cultures in the U.S. West. The Forest Service has obligated almost $45 million over five years to TNC, which will use existing staff, new hires and partner fire practitioners to collaborate with the Forest Service on mutual priority prescribed fire projects.