In committee
Fix Our Forests Act
To reduce wildfire risks, this bill fast-tracks tree thinning, controlled burns, and commercial timber cutting across high-risk federal lands by exempting projects up to 10,000 acres from standard environmental impact studies. It limits the public's ability to delay or stop these forestry projects by imposing a 120-day deadline on lawsuits and severely restricting a judge’s power to issue project-halting injunctions. The measure also lets power companies cut down trees up to 150 feet away from power lines without separate timber permits, and it expands the ability of state, tribal, and local governments to build roads and manage federal forest projects. Finally, it creates a simplified application portal for local fire-prevention grants, requires faster federal repayments to local fire departments, and provides travel support and dedicated caseworkers to families of fallen or injured firefighters.
People affected—Not determinable from the text provided. The bill broadly affects communities in high-risk firesheds, wildland firefighters, and utility operators, but does not quantify the affected population.
Fiscal magnitude—Not determinable from the text provided. The bill authorizes multiple programs and grant mechanisms subject to the availability of appropriations, but does not provide specific authorization amounts or direct appropriations.
Reach68provisional · pending reviewrigor: heuristic llm
What this bill touches.
Federal lands & resources−55Pollution & development−60Public R&D+30Courts & liability−45Workplace standards+15Native American affairs+35
Who it helps · who it burdens.
Who it helps
- Electric utilities operating on federal landsExpands authorized hazard tree clearing along electric power lines on federal land from 10 feet to 150 feet, provides for automatic plan approval after 120 days if federal agencies do not act, categorically excludes vegetation and inspection plans from NEPA environmental assessments and impact statements, and allows cutting and removing trees near power lines without a formal timber sale contract.
- Local fire departmentsRequires federal agencies to establish procedures reimbursing local fire departments for reciprocal fire suppression costs upon invoice submission, under a standard aiming for reimbursement within one year.
- Next-of-kin and survivors of wildland firefighters and support personnelCreates the Wildland Fire Management Casualty Assistance Program to provide casualty notifications, reimburse travel expenses to visit hospitalized personnel, assign case managers, and help secure federal survivor benefits when personnel are critically injured, fall ill, or are killed in the line of duty.
- Special districtsExpands Good Neighbor Authority to include special districts, allowing them to enter into cooperative agreements with federal land agencies, carry out authorized restoration services and road construction, and retain leftover timber sale funds to cover program administration costs.
- Indian TribesRequires federal agencies to enter into shared stewardship agreements within 90 days of request, prioritizes protection of tribal water supplies and resources in fireshed assessments, and authorizes collaborative white oak research agreements with land-grant institutions and Tribes.
- Federal stewardship contractorsDoubles the maximum stewardship contract term from 10 to 20 years and mandates that the federal government pay a 10 percent cancellation fee on contracts running longer than 5 years if the contract is canceled or terminated early by the government.
- Commercial timber purchasersRaises the maximum value cap for non-advertised federal timber sales from $10,000 to $55,000, indexes that cap to inflation starting in 2027, and directs the Forest Service to solicit bids for fireshed management projects.
- Biochar producers and researchersAuthorizes competitive research grants and public-private commercial demonstration partnerships for biochar facilities, providing federal funding covering up to 35 percent of facility capital costs.
- Private forest landownersProvides voluntary technical assistance from the Natural Resources Conservation Service to help private landowners restore, manage, and regenerate white oak stands, and authorizes participation in the Water Source Protection Program on adjacent private land with written consent.
Who it burdens
- Electric utilities operating on federal landsRequires electric utilities that cut and sell timber removed along power lines under a Forest Service special use permit or easement to pay all net proceeds from the sale back to the Forest Service, after subtracting transportation costs.
- Litigants challenging federal fireshed projectsImposes a 120-day statute of limitations, restricts standing to parties who submitted specific public comments, bars preliminary injunctions unless plaintiffs demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits and proximate, substantial environmental harm, and requires courts to balance the harms of agency inaction against action.
- Biochar demonstration project partnersRequires participating entities to derive at least 50 percent of their biochar feedstock from thinning and vegetation management activities conducted on National Forest System lands or public lands.