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Federal infrastructure funds go to Coconino National Forest wildfire and flooding mitigation

The Museum Fire burn area north of Flagstaff as seen on Sept. 19, 2019. The fire began July 21, 2019 and eventually burned nearly 2,000 acres.
Ryan Heinsius/KNAU
The Museum Fire burn area north of Flagstaff as seen on Sept. 19, 2019. The fire began July 21, 2019 and eventually burned nearly 2,000 acres.

Coconino National Forest managers are utilizing an influx of millions of dollars from last year’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to fund three wildfire reduction projects.

Six million dollars will go decreasing sediment in the Museum Fire burn area allowing for better flood mitigation in several Flagstaff neighborhoods.

In addition, the funds will benefit a 64,000-acre forest thinning project at C.C. Cragin Reservoir, which supplies water to the Town of Payson.

And federal funds will help crews continue the Flagstaff Watershed Protection Project on hundreds of acres south of Mormon Mountain.

The project has so far thinned more than 5,000 acres in and near the city.