Please visit the NFT website https://nft.garphub.org/ to learn more about the initiative and the current state of data aggregation.

The Grant Accomplishment Reporting Portal (GARP) is a collaborative initiative designed to track the implementation of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (NCS). 

Partners from the US Forest Service, NASF, DOI-Office of Wildland Fire and Timmons Group have developed GARP and its component reporting modules as an innovative new way to bring together data so we can demonstrate the collective NCS investments being made nationwide. Watch a short video about GARP here. 

GARP is the gateway to accomplishments reporting modules (ARMs). These modules allow State, Private & Tribal grantees to report details about the key accomplishments funded by grants from the USDA Forest Service. Three of the ARMs are specially aligned to support the goals of the National Cohesive Strategy, namely: 

• Fire Adapted Communities ARM 

• Local Fire Response ARM 

• Landscape Resiliency ARM 

There is also a central Cross-Program ARM that connects all of the program reporting. You can learn more about each ARM here.

Stay in the know! Newsletters and announcements about training events will be shared with you when you subscribe to GARP news. Please go here to subscribe to topics of interest to you. 

You can also check out the News and Events anytime here.

NFPORS was shut down during the Summer of 2024 for various reasons, most notably because it was not suited to support today’s critical need for better data describing the actual investments on the ground. Although the GARP initiative will involve a transition to reporting ‘actual’ work completed, for now there is still a need to report on Planned Accomplishments to support budget planning and justifications. 

Release 1 of GARP supports the shift from NFPORS to Cross Program ARM to track Planned Accomplishments. Notable differences include: 

• All state forestry organizations receiving funding through any State Fire Program and/or Volunteer Fire Funding Program should submit a Quantitative Planned Accomplishments worksheet available through their USFS Regional contact. The worksheet has a tab for each grant program and also contains business rules clarified per reporting requirement.  

• USFS Region staff will annually add new grants and enter all planned accomplishments details provided by states (and other partner grantees) into the Cross Program ARM. This will be a streamlined process for Southern and Western State Forestry organizations, since staff historically had to key in their own data into NFPORS. 

• Reporting elements that were removed: all Communities at Risk metrics and Planned acres of Biomass Utilized (note: actual acres of biomass utilized should be tracked for reporting via the Landscape ARM starting Q1 2025) 

• Reporting elements added: For both State Fire and Volunteer Fire, the “Equipment” spending has been split into “Equipment” (for property over $5000) and “Supplies and Maintenance” (for property under $5000, and equipment maintenance). 

Release 1 – Planned Accomplishments for State Fire & Volunteer Fire Programs 

FY24 grants were added for all State Fire and Volunteer Fire Program grants and their planned accomplishments were started in the summer of 2024 with the FY 24 round of grants.  If you are a State Forestry staff member who has been pre-identified as having accomplishment reporting responsibilities for your organization for any of the State Fire or Volunteer Fire Programs and want to view the Planned Accomplishments entered into Cross-Program ARM by USFS Region staff, then you will be invited to enter starting October 2024. 

Release 2 – CWDG Accomplishments Reporting 

If you are a CWDG grant administrator or manager ( “CWDG Full Opt-In” State Forestry organization), you will begin accessing the Fire Adapted Communities ARM no later than January 2025 and will then have the ability to share access to community-level grantees so they can complete their annual performance report.  If you are a State Forestry organization but are a grantee, you will receive a link from the USFS Grant Administrator that provides you access to submitting annual reports. 

Release 3 – State Fire & Volunteer Fire Programs Accomplishments Reporting 

Starting in Spring 2025, if you are a State Forestry staff member who has been pre-identified as having accomplishment reporting responsibilities for your organization for any of the State Fire or Volunteer Fire Programs, you will use one or more of the GARP modules to report on quantitative performance metrics, depending on your role within your organization. 

It is strongly recommended that you familiarize yourself with the modules and the expected reporting elements described in the Data Preparedness Guide here. 

Release 4 – CWDG Accomplishments Dashboards & Data Integrations 

This will be a second phase of development for the CWDG components within the Community ARM, and so the same group of users from Release 2 described above will benefit from this rollout. 

Release 1 – Planned Accomplishments for State Fire & Volunteer Fire Programs 

USFS grant program administrators and managers for the State Fire and/or the Volunteer Fire Programs started using the ‘Cross-Program’ ARM starting Summer 2024, when Planned Accomplishment reporting for these programs moved out of NFPORS. 

Release 2 – CWDG Accomplishments Reporting 

If you are a CWDG grant administrator or manager, you will begin accessing the Fire Adapted Communities ARM no later than January 2025 and then can share access to community-level grantees so they can complete their annual performance report. 

Release 3 – State Fire & Volunteer Fire Programs Accomplishments Reporting 

If you are a USFS grant program administrator or manager for the State Fire and/or the Volunteer Fire Programs, you will use the GARP modules to view the details reported by State Forestry organization and other grantees, and to use operational dashboards to review aggregated data. 

Release 4 – CWDG Accomplishments Dashboards & Data Integrations 

This will be a second phase of development for the CWDG components within the Community ARM, and so the same group of users from Release 2 described above will benefit from this rollout. 

Release 2 – CWDG Accomplishments Reporting 

If you are the reporting contact for an active CWDG grant, you will receive an invitation from your USFS or State grant administrator during the January 1 – March 31, 2024 reporting period, which will be used to submit details about the 2024 reporting period. 

Key program accomplishments are reported by grant and reporting period, in the specific Accomplishments Reporting Module (ARM) that the accomplishments align with.   

• The Landscape Resiliency ARM is for reporting hazardous fuels treatment related accomplishments  

• The Local Fire Response ARM is for reporting capacity building investments for specifically identified VFDs 

• The Fire Adapted Communities ARM is for reporting on various types of assistance that help specifically identified communities become more adapted to wildfire 

• The Cross Program ARM is the central hub where accomplishments reported in each of the other 3 ARMs are automatically imported into Performance Reports created by grant & reporting period.  Appropriate staff will review the accomplishments and complete this report so it can be included in PPR documentation. Since PPRs are submitted at the Federal Award level, the Cross Program ARM automatically pulls together all Performance Reports whose grants share the same Federal Award ID. This document can be downloaded and included in your formal reporting package to the USDA Forest Service. 

VOLUNTEER FIRE PROGRAM GRANTS 

Volunteer Fire Capacity – USDA Forest Service State, Private & Tribal Forestry non-competitive grant providing funding to implement Volunteer Fire program initiatives. 

BIL Volunteer Fire Assistance – Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) non-competitive grant to implement Volunteer Fire program initiatives.
 

STATE FIRE PROGRAM GRANTS 

State Fire Capacity – Core – USDA Forest Service State, Private & Tribal Forestry non-competitive grant providing formula-allocated funding to implement for State Fire program initiatives.    

BIL State Fire Assistance – Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) non-competitive grant to implement State Fire program initiatives.    

Western Wildland Urban Interface Grant – USDA Forest Service State, Private & Tribal Forestry competitive grant for western states & Pacific Island territories to mitigate risk from wildland fire funded through State Fire Capacity program.  

Southern Mitigation Grant – USDA Forest Service State, Private & Tribal Forestry competitive grant for southern states, USVI and Puerto Rico to mitigate risk from wildland fire funded through State Fire Capacity program. 

NEMW Wildfire Risk Reduction Grant – USDA Forest Service State, Private & Tribal Forestry competitive grant for northeast-midwestern states to mitigate risk from wildland fire funded through State Fire Capacity program.    

Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Grant – USDA Forest Service State, Private & Tribal Forestry competitive grant for all states to mitigate risk from wildland fire funded through State Fire Capacity program. 

The reporting cadence is dependent on the type of grant. See below for specific guidance. 

QUARTERLY REPORTING & DEADLINES 

The IIJA Volunteer Fire Assistance and IIJA State Fire Assistance grants require quarterly reports, based on expenditures and work accomplished for each calendar quarter.   

Work Completed in Q1: January 1 – March 31 

• Interim Report Deadline: June 30  

• Final Report Deadline: July 31 

Work Completed in Q2: April 1 – June 30  

• Interim Report Deadline: September 30  

• Final Report Deadline: October 31 

Work Completed in Q3: July 1 – September 30  

• Interim Report Deadline: December 31  

• Final Report Deadline: January 31 

Work Completed in Q4: October 1 – December 31  

• Interim Report Deadline: March 31 

• Final Report Deadline: April 30 

ANNUAL REPORTING & DEADLINES 

The grants below require annual reports, based on expenditures and work accomplished for an entire calendar year (January 1 – December 31).  Interim reports are due no later than March 31 following the end of the reporting period; Final reports are due no later than April 30 following the end of the reporting period. 

• Volunteer Fire Capacity  

• State Fire Capacity – Core  

• Western Wildland Urban Interface Grant  

• Southern Mitigation Grant  

• NEMW Wildfire Risk Reduction Grant  

• Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Grant  

• CWDG Community-Awarded Grant 

Currently, GARP does not support accomplishment reporting for Forest Action Plan implementation.  However, it is encouraged that any hazardous fuels treatments completed as part of your forest action plan implementation be included in your mapped database that feeds the National Fuels Treatments data initiative.

Currently, GARP does not support accomplishment reporting for hazardous fuels treatments on non-federal lands funded by USFS National Forest System Cross-Boundary / Hazardous Fuels Grants. However, it is encouraged that any treatments completed with NFS Cross-Boundary funding be included in your mapped database that feeds the National Fuels Treatments data initiative and coded with that federal funding program (see page 2 of the NFT data model here).

The Landscape Resiliency Accomplishments Reporting Module (Landscape ARM) aligns with the NCS goal of creating and maintaining wildfire Resilient Landscapes. The ARM assists state, tribal and other partners in reporting where and how federal grant funds are being invested to meet the objectives of wildfire mitigation and hazardous fuels reduction. These reported details are in turn used to quantify and demonstrate the value and impact of these programs at various scales nationwide.

This module is principally for State Forestry staff and other State Fire Program grantees with responsibilities to track and report on the costs and hazardous fuels treatment acres completed with qualifying federal grant funding (both direct and leverage). Each grantee organization must provide the GARP team with the list of their staff that are authorized to add and update accomplishments as “Grant Managers” in the ARM.  Check out the training video and user guide here. 

USDA Forest Service staff and other authorized “Grant Viewers” may explore and view the accomplishments reported by the grantees but may not edit the accomplishments directly. 

NASF and the USDA Forest Service must be able to demonstrate where landscape resiliency investments are happening on the ground, so that the value and impact of these programs can be communicated to Congress and the White House.   

This means that, as often as possible, the boundaries of your hazardous fuels treatments should be mapped and included in a GIS dataset that is set up to automatically ‘feed’ into the National Fuels Treatments (NFT) dataset.  Learn more about getting connected to NFT  here. 

Landscape ARM can automatically aggregate the acres (and costs, when available) per Grant and Reporting Period if your mapped treatments are set up to feed into NFT, and you are adding key details about funding and completion dates.  Although this mapping and NFT integration is not currently required, this streamlined process will save reporting time and support the important need to quantify program impact nationwide. 

The Landscape ARM supports reporting of hazardous fuels accomplishments for the following grants: 

State Fire Capacity – Core – USFS SP&TF non-competitive grant providing formula-allocated funding to implement for State Fire program initiatives.    

BIL State Fire Assistance – Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) non-competitive grant to implement State Fire program initiatives.    

Western Wildland Urban Interface Grant – USFS SP&TF competitive grant for western states & Pacific Island territories to mitigate risk from wildland fire funded through State Fire Capacity program.  

Southern Mitigation Grant – USFS SP&TF competitive grant for southern states, USVI and Puerto Rico to mitigate risk from wildland fire funded through State Fire Capacity program. 

NEMW Wildfire Risk Reduction Grant – USFS SP&TF competitive grant for northeast-midwestern states to mitigate risk from wildland fire funded through State Fire Capacity program.    

Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Grant – USFS SP&TF competitive grant for all states to mitigate risk from wildland fire funded through State Fire Capacity program. 

NOTE: Landscape ARM does not currently support reporting for Forest Action Plan and NFS Cross Boundary grants. 

State Fire Program Grants are set up in the Cross Program ARM by USFS Regional Office staff, which are then available for reporting on in the Landscape ARM.  Any mapped fuels treatments pulled into the Landscape ARM from NFT are then intersected with the Census County Subdivisions map to automatically identify communities assisted in the Community ARM.  Additional acres reported in Landscape ARM are also shown in the Community ARM for manual community selection. Lastly, accomplishments are automatically pulled into the Cross Program ARM Performance Reports and PPRs.

State Fire Program grantees are encouraged to check out the Landscape ARM Data Preparedness video here.   

Be sure to also watch the Landscape ARM training video and download the user guide here. 

In some cases, your organization may have been awarded funding for 2 or more different projects on a single grant (e.g., 2023 Western Wildland Urban Interface grant, Project A and Project B). Currently, reporting in the Landscape ARM and the other modules will NOT be split out by Project.  All quantitative metrics (and mapped treatments) must be aggregated and reported at the grant level.  Please use your narrative accomplishments report (not currently supported in GARP) to indicate Project-level performance.

The Local Fire Response Accomplishments Reporting Module (Response ARM) aligns with the NCS goal for effective and efficient wildfire response. The ARM assists state partners in reporting where and how federal grant funds are being invested to meet the objectives of building volunteer fire department response capacity in rural communities. These reported details are powered by mapped Fire District Response Boundaries, and are used to quantify and demonstrate the value and impact of these programs at various scales nationwide. 

This module is principally for State Forestry staff and other State Fire Program grantees with responsibilities to track and report on which VFDs are being assisted, what types of assistance they are receiving, and the associated costs funded by federal grants. Each grantee organization must provide the GARP team with the list of their staff that are authorized to add and update accomplishments as “Grant Managers” in the ARM. 

USDA Forest Service staff and other authorized “Grant Viewers” may explore and view the accomplishments reported by the grantees but may not edit the accomplishments directly. 

The Response ARM supports reporting of VFD assistance accomplishments for the following grants: 

Volunteer Fire Capacity – USFS SP&TF non-competitive grant providing formula-allocated funding to implement for Volunteer Fire program initiatives.    

IIJA Volunteer Fire Assistance – Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) non-competitive grant to implement State Fire program initiatives.  

Ideally, all newly processed pass-through grant requests (including those that were eligible but were not funded) are entered into Response ARM once all requests have been processed for approvals at the end of your ‘application season’.   

As funds begin to be used, either to reimburse VFDs for their approved assistance or for other investments going directly to VFDs (like federal excess property assistance or training academies, etc.), it is recommended that you update your records in Response ARM regularly. 

All reporting will be based on cumulative spending and assistance to date.  Your agency will have to produce Performance Reports in accordance with the deadlines stipulated by each grant, so make sure your accomplishment details are in the Response ARM no later than the quarterly or annual cadences (calendar, not fiscal).  For more information, consult the Reporting Guidance and Reporting Cadences here.

Volunteer Fire Program Grants are set up in the Cross Program ARM by USFS Regional Office staff, which are then available for aggregating reported VFD accomplishments in the Response ARM.  Response ARM is powered with mapped FD Response Boundaries data, such that whenever you report on assistance going to a VFD, Response ARM uses the VFD’s mapped response boundary to show where assistance was delivered.  These areas where VFDs assisted are also then intersected with the Census County Subdivisions map to automatically identify communities assisted in the Community ARM.  Lastly, accomplishments are automatically pulled into the Cross Program ARM Performance Reports and PPRs.  (Note: some VFD response boundaries may not yet be mapped; however, the investments for these will still be quantified.)

Most Volunteer Fire Program grant funding goes to VFDs through pass-through grants, but some funds build capacity through other mechanisms.  NASF and USFS have prioritized VFD-level reporting of key details about the assistance requests as well as actual assistance provided.  Both single-record entry and bulk uploads are available in the Response ARM.  Please check out the Response ARM Data Preparedness video here.  Be sure to also watch the Response ARM training video and download the user guide here.

The Fire Adapted Communities Accomplishments Reporting Module (Community ARM) aligns with the NCS goal to ensure communities at risk are adapted to wildfire. The ARM assists state, tribal and other partners in reporting where and how federal grant funds are being invested to meet the objectives of protecting homes, communities and other values at risk. These reported details are in turn used to quantify and demonstrate the value and impact of these programs at various scales nationwide.

This module supports program accomplishments reporting for grantees funded by CWDG and/or the State Fire Program grants.   

CWDG Grantees will receive a link from their USFS or State Forestry CWDG grant administrators for reporting annual accomplishments. (Only grant administrators require a GARP account; CWDG grantees do not require an account for reporting accomplishments.) 

State Fire Program grantees are principally for State Forestry staff and other State Fire Program grantees with responsibilities to track and report on Community Assistance accomplishments funded by State Fire Program grants. Each grantee organization must provide the GARP team with the list of their staff that are authorized to add and update accomplishments as “Grant Managers” in the ARM. 

Other authorized “Grant Viewers” may explore and view the accomplishments reported by the grantees but may not edit the accomplishments directly.

The Community ARM supports reporting of community assistance accomplishments for the following grants: 

Community Wildfire Defense Grants – Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) competitive grant to develop CWPPs and mitigate risk from wildfire at the community-level.  (Note: reporting on base funding is not currently supported in GARP)   

Volunteer Fire Capacity – USFS SP&TF non-competitive grant providing formula-allocated funding to implement for Volunteer Fire program initiatives.    

IIJA Volunteer Fire Assistance – Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) non-competitive grant to implement State Fire program initiatives.    

State Fire Capacity – Core – USFS SP&TF non-competitive grant providing formula-allocated funding to implement for State Fire program initiatives.    

BIL State Fire Assistance – Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) non-competitive grant to implement State Fire program initiatives.    

Western Wildland Urban Interface Grant – USFS SP&TF competitive grant for western states & Pacific Island territories to mitigate risk from wildland fire funded through State Fire Capacity program.  

Southern Mitigation Grant – USFS SP&TF competitive grant for southern states, USVI and Puerto Rico to mitigate risk from wildland fire funded through State Fire Capacity program. 

NEMW Wildfire Risk Reduction Grant – USFS SP&TF competitive grant for northeast-midwestern states to mitigate risk from wildland fire funded through State Fire Capacity program.    

Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Grant – USFS SP&TF competitive grant for all states to mitigate risk from wildland fire funded through State Fire Capacity program. 

CWDG reporting windows are every year from January 1 to March 31.  Grantees can request extensions from their grant administrators, as needed.  (You can also report before the end of the year if you are ready to submit your final report.  Contact your grant administrator for assistance.)  Please learn more using the CWDG resources here.

Ideally, community assistance from fuels treatments, CWPPs, Fire Management Plans, Community Risk Assessments and Prevention Education are reported throughout the reporting period.  The reporting period is the calendar year for most grants but is quarterly for IIJA State Fire Assistance grants. However, accomplishments must be reported no later than the deadlines set per grant.  For more information, consult the Reporting Guidance and Reporting Cadences here.

Note that communities assisted through VFD assistance (reported in the Response ARM) will be automatically identified and quantified by the Community ARM.  Similarly, when creating an accomplishments report for a State Fire Program grant, if there are mapped treatments available (reported in the Landscape ARM), then the Community ARM will automatically identify and quantify communities that are intersected (see integration details below).  

Community ARM connects accomplishments with Census County Subdivision “communities” to show where assistance was delivered.   

For State and Volunteer Fire Program grants, this includes both automatic identification of communities as well as manual selection of communities assisted.  Coming later in 2025, CWDG mapped accomplishments will be used to automatically identify of which Census County Subdivision “communities” were assisted. 

Not sure what your Census County Subdivisions look like? Check out the GARP Communities Reference Map Viewer. 

State and Volunteer Fire Program Grants are set up in the Cross Program ARM by USFS Regional Office staff, which are then available for reporting community assistance accomplishments in the Community ARM.   

The Community ARM is integrated with the Landscape ARM such that any mapped treatments are used to automatically identify and quantify communities assisted for a given grant and reporting period.  In addition, the number of additional and leveraged acres reported within the grant & reporting period are imported into the Community ARM reports so that you can select communities assisted by these treatments. 

Community ARM is also integrated with the Response ARM by taking the VFDs assisted per grant and using their response boundaries to automatically identify and quantify communities assisted to date.  

Finally, all community assistance accomplishments are imported into Performance Reports and PPRs in the Cross Program ARM. (Note: CWDG is not included) 

CWDG grantees can learn about what to expect by signing up for the free e-Learning course appropriate for your grant here.  CWDG User Guides are also available on that page. 

State and Volunteer Fire Program grantees are encouraged to check out the Response ARM Data Preparedness video here.  Be sure to also watch the Community ARM training video and download the user guide here.

The Cross Program Accomplishments Reporting Module (Cross Program ARM) is for: 

• Adding new State and Volunteer Fire Program grants (USFS users) 

• Entering baseline Planned Accomplishments for each grant (USFS users, using data provided by states/grantees) 

• Aggregating accomplishments from the other ARMs into formal Performance Reports and PPRs (state and other grantees) 

Please check out the Cross Program User Guides here. 

This module is for USFS staff who add  State and Volunteer Fire Program grants and enter associated Planned Accomplishments.  

It is also for State Forestry staff responsible for finalizing performance reports and retrieving PPRs for State and Volunteer Fire Program grants.   

There are also performance dashboards available for exploring accomplishments by all authorized GARP users. 

The Cross Program ARM supports performance for the following grants: 

Volunteer Fire Capacity – USFS SP&TF non-competitive grant providing formula-allocated funding to implement for Volunteer Fire program initiatives.    

IIJA Volunteer Fire Assistance – Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) non-competitive grant to implement State Fire program initiatives.    

State Fire Capacity – Core – USFS SP&TF non-competitive grant providing formula-allocated funding to implement for State Fire program initiatives.    

BIL State Fire Assistance – Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) non-competitive grant to implement State Fire program initiatives.    

Western Wildland Urban Interface Grant – USFS SP&TF competitive grant for western states & Pacific Island territories to mitigate risk from wildland fire funded through State Fire Capacity program.  

Southern Mitigation Grant – USFS SP&TF competitive grant for southern states, USVI and Puerto Rico to mitigate risk from wildland fire funded through State Fire Capacity program. 

NEMW Wildfire Risk Reduction Grant – USFS SP&TF competitive grant for northeast-midwestern states to mitigate risk from wildland fire funded through State Fire Capacity program.    

Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Grant – USFS SP&TF competitive grant for all states to mitigate risk from wildland fire funded through State Fire Capacity program. 

Ideally, accomplishments reporting happens throughout the reporting periods in the other ARMs (Response ARM, Landscape ARM and Community ARM), whereas the Performance Reports that aggregate those accomplishments must be completed no later than the deadlines set per grant.  For more information, consult the Reporting Guidance and Reporting Cadences here.

Accomplishments reported in the Landscape ARM, Response ARM and Community ARM  

Lastly, community assistance accomplishments are automatically pulled into the Cross Program ARM Performance Reports and PPRs.

Most of the accomplishments data will be entered using the other 3 modules, but State Forestry grant managers will need to augment Performance Reports with several additional details for State Fire and Volunteer Fire grants. 

For Volunteer Fire Program grants, additional details include Program Administration costs (to date), and the number and associated costs for establishing or expanding fire departments will be reported in Performance Reports of the Cross Program ARM.  

For State Fire Program grants, additional details include various Cross Functional Program Investments.  

Please review the business rules within the Reporting Guidance here.