Fix Our Forests Act

Key Points

• The bill designates high-risk "fireshed management areas" across the country where the government can speed up forest thinning, brush clearing, and other projects to reduce wildfire danger. These areas cover the top 20% of firesheds most at risk, and the designations are exempt from standard environmental review requirements.
• A new Wildland Fire Intelligence Center would be created within one year to provide real-time wildfire prediction, data sharing across agencies, and decision support for firefighters and communities. An 18-member board from across federal agencies would govern the center.
• Courts would face new limits when hearing lawsuits against forest management projects, including a requirement to weigh wildfire risks before blocking projects. Claims must be filed within 150 days, and courts must consider whether delays would cause "significant increases in wildfire risk or severity."
• New community wildfire defense grants can now fund retrofitting homes to resist fire, creating defensible space around buildings, and hardening evacuation routes. The bill also broadens who counts as an "at-risk community" eligible for federal help.
• A Wildland Fire Management Casualty Assistance Program would give support to families of firefighters killed, critically injured, or made ill in the line of duty, including travel reimbursement and access to case managers.
• Indian Tribes get expanded roles in forest management, including new authority for prescribed burns on federal land, inclusion in good neighbor agreements, and tort claims protection for Tribal employees doing forest work on behalf of the Forest Service.

Votes

No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.