Staff Reports
Governor Gavin Newsom’s Tribal Wildfire Resilience grants are suddenly in the spotlight. A new Manhattan Institute / City Journal piece argues the program is funding more than just sensible fire prevention. The criticism says some grants read more like cultural projects or slush funds than real wildfire mitigation — and Californians who lost homes in past blazes are rightly asking whether state money is buying smoke instead of safety.
Manhattan Institute’s charge: grants gone soft
The recent City Journal feature, written by Christopher F. Rufo (senior fellow, Manhattan Institute) and Austen Hufford (senior investigative reporter, City Journal), lays out the case. The authors point to grant descriptions that mention “cultural burns,” “food sovereignty,” and other activities that, they say, don’t always look like fuel reduction or defensible-space work. The piece calls attention to projects and language that suggest the program sometimes prioritizes symbolism over hard-edged wildfire prevention.
What CAL FIRE says — program purpose and the money math
CAL FIRE and the Natural Resources Agency designed the Tribal Wildfire Resilience (TWR) program to fund tribal-led work that can include cultural burns, shaded fuel breaks, understory thinning, mapping, and training. The agency’s award pages show grants can range from about $250,000 to several million dollars. One CAL FIRE announcement cited nearly $4.7 million awarded to six tribes, and other CAL FIRE materials summarize the program as “over $30 million to 23 projects” across multiple rounds. That variation in totals is real: different press notices count different solicitation rounds, which makes the money math look messier than it needs to be.
SB 310, tribal recognition, and safety standards
Part of the policy change behind these grants is SB 310, which created a legal pathway for “cultural burning” and defined a “cultural fire practitioner” by tribal recognition rather than the state’s usual training certificates. Supporters argue this restores tribal stewardship and lets Traditional Ecological Knowledge work alongside modern firefighting practice. CAL FIRE officials like Eric Huff call the grants an investment in tribal stewardship and wildfire resilience, and tribal leaders such as Russell “Buster” Atebery point to sovereignty and the blending of traditional and scientific knowledge. There are also joint trainings meant to raise safety levels — but critics warn that a parallel track for recognition can create confusion on standards and oversight.
Why Californians should care
This is where the rubber meets the road. Wildfires destroy homes and lives; state programs should focus on cutting hazards and protecting residents. If some TWR awards mainly fund symbolic rituals or vague “sovereignty” projects, taxpayers deserve answers. The Manhattan Institute’s piece is a provocation, but it also highlights a simple point: government dollars must have clear, measurable wildfire outcomes. If Newsom’s administration wants to support tribal stewardship, fine — but do it in ways that reduce fuel loads, open defensible space, and keep heavy equipment and firefighters from being tied up by bureaucracy. Californians who’ve lost everything need fewer ceremonies and more cleared brush.
