Civilian Conservation Center Enhancement Act of 2025

This bill strengthens job-training centers for underserved youth run by the Interior and Agriculture Departments. It requires these centers to offer specialized training in areas like forestry, rangeland work, and wildland firefighting, with a focus on sites that already host major workforce programs. These centers are residential and aim to help students move into real jobs after finishing their training .

It lets the Agriculture Department test hands-on career classes—such as incident management, heavy equipment operation, machining, mill operations, habitat and water quality monitoring, and more—and calls for upgrading facilities, modern tools, and the staff needed to teach these skills. The bill sets clear hiring goals, including that each department aims to hire 300 graduates a year for wildland firefighting or other critical needs, allows signing bonuses (for example, to help with housing in remote areas), and gives agencies direct-hire authority for qualified graduates starting in fiscal year 2025. It also builds career pathways, allows paying students for necessary work hours, encourages using students on agency projects, and starts a pilot to repair and build federal housing for firefighters and other crews. A report on how to fully use center capacity is due within one year of enactment .

• Who is affected: Underserved youth in conservation training centers; public land and emergency agencies; wildland firefighters; rural and forest communities.
• What changes: New and expanded training; facility and equipment upgrades; hiring goals (300 grads per department each year); signing bonuses; direct hiring; paid student work; use of students on projects; and a housing pilot for firefighter and crew housing .
• When: Direct-hire authority begins in fiscal year 2025; the agency report is due within one year after the bill becomes law .