Sponsors (2)
Introduced December 17, 2025 by Alejandro Padilla · Last progress December 17, 2025
The bill prioritizes permanent conservation, wildfire-restoration work, and expanded recreation access across many California public lands—trading off expanded ecological and public-safety protections and recreation/tourism benefits against restrictions on resource development, occasional local access impacts, utility upgrade constraints, and increased federal planning and remediation costs.
Residents of California communities near treated public lands will face reduced wildfire risk because the bill requires restoration, prescribed burns, shaded fuel breaks, and clarifies emergency fire-response and fuels‑management authority.
Residents, downstream users, and wildlife will benefit from stronger habitat and watershed protections because the bill designates large tracts as wilderness, protects river miles, and funds aquatic-habitat restoration and water-quality remediation.
Hikers, outdoor recreationists, and nearby communities will gain expanded recreation access and potential tourism income from a new long-distance nonmotorized trail, visitor access improvements, and preserved scenic and river recreation opportunities.
Workers, businesses, and local economies near designated lands could lose jobs and future economic opportunities because the bill withdraws lands from mining, leasing, and many extractive or development uses (including timber and some geothermal activities).
Utility customers and wildfire‑mitigation planners could face higher reliability or safety risks because the bill limits certain PG&E facility upgrades and places restrictions on work in designated areas that could delay modernization or line‑hardening needed to reduce fire risk.
Taxpayers and federal agencies may face added costs and workload because the bill creates new grant, remediation, mapping, planning, and management obligations without specifying appropriations, increasing administrative burdens and potential spending needs.
Based on analysis of 14 sections of legislative text.
Designates new wilderness and Wild and Scenic River segments, creates a large restoration area with required plans, limits vehicle/industrial uses in special areas, and authorizes a Bigfoot Trail study.
Creates a large South Fork Trinity–Mad River Restoration Area and requires joint restoration and fire‑management plans to restore forest health, protect aquatic habitat, and reduce wildfire risk; designates many new or expanded wilderness areas and multiple river segments as components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System in California; establishes special management rules for certain areas (including vehicle use limits and mining/leasing withdrawals); creates the California Public Land Remediation Partnership to coordinate remediation of lands damaged by illegal cultivation; and directs a feasibility study (and possible designation) of a nonmotorized Bigfoot National Recreation Trail. The bill requires maps and legal descriptions to be filed, allows land acquisition from willing sellers, preserves certain existing utility rights‑of‑way, and sets short deadlines for required plans and studies.