Sponsors (3)
The bill substantially expands and speeds up landscape-scale prescribed fire and local capacity (reducing long-term wildfire risk and creating jobs), but it increases short-term smoke-health risks, shifts funding and oversight burdens, and raises liability and administrative costs that must be managed.
Rural and wildland-urban-interface communities will see many more acres treated with prescribed fire because agencies must increase prescribed-fire acreage (10% annual target) and the bill enables landscape-scale implementation.
Federal, State, Tribal, and local land managers will be able to plan and carry out landscape-scale prescribed-fire projects more quickly due to clarified jurisdiction, streamlined NEPA application for landscape-scale planning, and longer-term cross-boundary agreements.
States, Tribes, local governments, councils, and nonprofits can access grants and funding (including cross-boundary use) for prescribed-fire implementation, training, and capacity-building, expanding local capacity, jobs, and cooperative projects.
Residents, especially those with respiratory conditions, near prescribed burns will face increased short-term smoke exposure and air-quality impacts as prescribed fire use expands, even with smoke-management plans.
Local communities and stakeholders may lose opportunities for project-specific input and environmental review because streamlined, landscape-scale NEPA decisions can reduce public engagement on individual treatments.
Capping program funding ($20M/yr, $1M/project, 20 projects/year) and prioritizing large landscape strategies could leave many beneficial local or larger projects unfunded or unsupported.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Allows reallocating up to 15% of certain hazardous‑fuels funds for prescribed fire work, establishes programs, training, workforce incentives, cooperative agreements, and reporting requirements.
Introduced June 10, 2025 by Kim Schrier · Last progress June 10, 2025
Allows the Interior and Agriculture Departments to shift up to 15% of certain hazardous-fuels management funds to expand use of prescribed fire on federal land and on non‑federal land when it benefits federal resources. The law funds contracts, grants, training, outreach, and post‑fire work; creates regional strategies, task forces, and a Collaborative Prescribed Fire Program; authorizes multi‑year cooperative agreements with States, Tribes, local governments, NGOs, and private partners; and adds workforce incentives, position conversions, and reporting requirements tied to federal cost‑share eligibility.