Smartest Forest Fund Grant
In context
This call is open to non-profits, research institutions and local authorities and 1 other. Funding is a grant. Coverage is read from the notice itself: United States. The funder accepts early-stage applicants.
This fund drives innovation in Lake Tahoe forests to build wildfire resilience through forest management and related interventions. Eligible applicants (nonprofits, research institutions, and likely local authorities or community groups working in the region) can apply for funding, with donors of $100+ receiving a Watch Duty subscription as an incentive.
About this grant
The Smartest Forest Fund is a sub-fund of the Tahoe Fund's Environmental Venture Trust, launched in 2019 to address catastrophic wildfire risk in the Lake Tahoe Basin through philanthropic support of innovation and pilot projects. The region has experienced record-breaking wildfires, with 692,000 tree deaths since 2010 and overly-dense forests creating dangerous conditions. The Fund uses seed funding to invest in promising new ideas and pilot projects across four main categories: innovation and technology solutions (such as remotely-operated forest treatment equipment and AI-powered planning software), workforce development and education programs, wood utilization infrastructure to create markets for harvested timber, and community preparedness initiatives. Working alongside U.S. Forest Service, California Tahoe Conservancy, Nevada Department of Forestry, and other partners, the Fund aims to make Tahoe's forest the smartest forest on the planet by supporting tools, technologies, training, and community programs that increase the pace and scale of forest restoration while protecting people and property in the wildland-urban interface.
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Key requirements
- ✓Projects must address wildfire resilience in Lake Tahoe forests
- ✓Focus on innovation in forest management and/or ecological restoration
- ✓Donors of $100+ receive Watch Duty subscription (incentive structure suggests community/stakeholder engagement component)
Recent past awardees
Knowing who's won the last rounds tells you whether you're in the strike zone.
- Fire Smart Community Pilots · 2025
- Tahoe-Truckee BurnBot Pilot
- Vibrant Planet (Land Tender)
- Kodama Systems
- California Forest Observatory (Salo Sciences)
- U.S. Forest Service (Acoustic Owl Monitoring)
- Caldor Forest Treatment Study
- FireUp
Funder contact
The notice names a programme contact you can speak to before applying.
Frequently asked questions
- Who can apply for Smartest Forest Fund?
- Eligibility covers organisations in US; nonprofit, research-institution, local-authority, community-group.
Relevant sectors
How this compares
- Compared with 77 similar grants (forestry in United States) listed in the last 12 months.
- Similar grants that state a value range from $3k to $20m, with a median of $600k (11 grants).
- This is the only similar grant from this organisation listed here in the last 12 months.
- We hold 45 past awards from this funder; recent recipients include City of South Lake Tahoe (2025), FireAside (2025), National Forest Foundation (2025).
Closest open grants
Figures are computed from notices listed on Raise Lens in the same sector and country over the last 12 months.
About this sector
Forestry funding supports afforestation, reforestation, sustainable forest management and avoided deforestation. Money flows from climate finance, nature programmes, results-based payments and corporate buyers of forest carbon. Calls typically require land tenure clarity, community engagement and a credible plan to monitor tree survival over time.
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