CAL FIRE Releases Two Forest Health Research Funding Opportunities for FY 2026–27
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) has released two competitive funding opportunities through the Forest Health Research Program (FHRP). These solicitations support applied research that advances forest resilience, wildfire management, climate adaptation, and science-based decision-making across California.
Key Program Details
Concept Proposal Deadline: July 30, 2026, 3:00 PM PDT (Full Proposals by invite only)
Award Size:
- CCI: $400,000–$900,000, depending on project type
- Prop 4: $1,000,000–$1,500,000
Project Period: 4 years
Please refer to the full solicitation guidelines for additional eligibility requirements, application instructions, review criteria, and program details. Applicants seeking consideration under both funding opportunities must submit separate applications for each solicitation.
Solicitation 1: California Climate Investments (CCI) - Forest Health Research Program
CCI - Forest Health Research Program (RP-RFP-2026-01)
Provides funding for research addressing CAL FIRE's identified priority research topics in forest health and wildfire science. Projects must align with one or more of the program's priority topics, including:
- Post-fire recovery, restoration, and reforestation
- Forest management and wildfire risk reduction
- Ecological monitoring and treatment effectiveness
- Community resilience to wildfire
- Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and tribal stewardship
- Forest products and biomass utilization
- Wildfire behavior and prediction
- Novel applications of FireSat satellite data
Applicants may apply under one of four project categories:
- Wildfire and Forest Research (General)
- Demonstration State Forests Research
- Science Synthesis and Tool Development
- Special Topics Research
Solicitation 2: Proposition 4 Forest Health Research
Proposition 4 Forest Health Research Program (RP-RFP-2026-03)
Supports collaborative, landscape-scale research that improves forest health, wildfire resilience, climate adaptation, and greenhouse gas reduction across California.
Unlike the CCI opportunity, this solicitation is not organized around specific priority research topics. Instead, it prioritizes research that generates meaningful applied benefits for any of the following themes:
- Landscape-scale forest resilience, restoration, and vegetation management
- Wildfire risk reduction and decision-support tools
- Understanding impacts of large wildfires and other disturbances
- Predicting future ecosystem and disturbance conditions
- Monitoring treatment effectiveness and outcomes
- Greenhouse gas reduction, carbon storage, and climate benefits
- Policy and planning to support California's climate and forest resilience goals
Projects are expected to be highly collaborative and directly relevant to large-scale management units such as watersheds, firesheds, or Potential Operational Delineations (PODs).
CDFA Specialty Crop Multi-State Program (SCMP)
The purpose of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Specialty Crop Multi-State Program (SCMP) is to competitively award funds to projects that enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops by funding collaborative, multi-state projects that address regional or national level specialty crop issues, including food safety, plant pests and disease, research, crop-specific projects addressing common issues, and marketing and promotion. Specialty crops include fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops (including floriculture). All prospective applicants are encouraged to review the 2026 SCMP Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) on the USDA, AMS website.
CDFA Specialty Crop Multi-State Program Website
Key Program Details
Proposal Deadline: 1:59 pm PDT on August 31, 2026 (Submitted to CDFA at grants@cdfa.ca.gov)
Award Size: $250,000–$1,000,000
Match: 25% of the federal funds
Project Period: 3 years
USDA NIFA Urban, Indoor, and other Emerging Agricultural Production Research, Education, and Extension Initiative
The Urban, Indoor, and Emerging Agriculture (UIE) program supports research, education, and extension work by awarding grants to solve key problems of local, regional, and national importance that facilitate development of urban, indoor, and emerging agricultural systems. The program includes food value chain stages: production, harvesting, transportation, aggregation, packaging, distribution, and markets.
Key Program Details
Proposal Deadline: 2:00 pm PDT, July 27, 2026
Maximum Award Size: $500,000
Project Period: 24-36 months
Each Project Director (PD) may only submit one application to this program per fiscal year as the lead PD.
USDA NIFA Organic Transitions
Integrated Research, Education, and Extension Competitive Grants Program – Organic Transitions NOFO
The overall goal of the Organic Transitions (ORG) program is to support the development and implementation of research, extension, and higher education programs that improve the competitiveness of U.S. organic livestock and crop producers, as well as those adopting organic practices. The ORG program addresses organic practices and systems including organic crops, organic animal production, and organic systems that integrate crop and animal production. The most meaningful metrics or models for quantifying the benefits of organic systems are critically needed for organic agriculture. A better understanding is needed, and documentation of these outcomes will allow for the adjustment of organic practices to optimize benefits and to quantify and document those effects in the areas of grower practices. This information will help farmers better assess the financial benefits and costs of their practices and improve their ability to quantify effects.
Key Program Details
Proposal Deadline: 2:00 pm PDT, July 13, 2026
Maximum Award Size: $1,000,000
Match: 1:1 match required. Option to waive if conditions are met.
Project Period: 24-48 months