Sponsors (10)
The bill accelerates and expands fuel-reduction and restoration work to lower wildfire risk and improve local resilience, but it reduces some environmental review and includes cost-driven waivers and treatment caps that could undermine ecological protections and public input.
Rural communities and nearby towns will face lower wildfire risk because the bill funds and prioritizes fuel-reduction and hazardous-fuels projects across up to 10,000 acres.
Hazardous-fuels and restoration projects can be completed faster because a NEPA categorical exclusion reduces administrative delays, enabling quicker treatments of high-risk areas.
Local governments, fire departments, and other on-the-ground partners will have more direct roles in planning and executing treatments, improving coordination and speed of implementation.
Residents, local governments, and stakeholders will have reduced opportunities for public input and environmental review because some projects up to 10,000 acres may proceed without full NEPA review, which also raises the risk of unintended harms to wildlife, water, or other resources if monitoring and enforcement are inadequate.
Forest health outcomes could be limited because mechanical thinning is capped at 3,000 acres, potentially preventing some large-scale mechanical treatments needed in heavily overgrown or high-risk landscapes.
The Secretary may waive certain ecosystem-benefit requirements if project costs are deemed excessive, creating a risk that cost concerns could override ecological protections on some projects.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires coordinated forest management for fuel reduction and ecosystem benefits, adds monitoring requirements, and creates a limited NEPA categorical exclusion for qualifying fuel-reduction projects.
Introduced January 3, 2025 by Tom McClintock · Last progress January 3, 2025
Requires federal land managers to plan and carry out coordinated forest management that reduces fuel loads, supports biodiversity, restores wetlands and stream environment zones, and improves resilience to changing water temperature and precipitation, unless costs are judged excessive. Establishes post-project ground-condition criteria and monitoring, allows cooperative agreements across ownerships, and creates a limited NEPA categorical exclusion for certain fuel-reduction projects meeting size and thinning limits.