[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2015 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2015
To direct the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of
Agriculture to encourage and expand the use of prescribed fire on land
managed by the Department of the Interior or the Forest Service, with
an emphasis on units of the National Forest System in the western and
southeastern United States, to acknowledge and support the long-
standing use of cultural burning by Indian Tribes and Indigenous
practitioners, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 10, 2025
Mr. Wyden (for himself and Mr. Budd) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of
Agriculture to encourage and expand the use of prescribed fire on land
managed by the Department of the Interior or the Forest Service, with
an emphasis on units of the National Forest System in the western and
southeastern United States, to acknowledge and support the long-
standing use of cultural burning by Indian Tribes and Indigenous
practitioners, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``National
Prescribed Fire Act of 2025''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Definitions.
TITLE I--USE OF FUNDS
Sec. 101. Definition of prescribed fire.
Sec. 102. Prescribed fire funding.
Sec. 103. Policies and practices.
Sec. 104. Collaborative Prescribed Fire Program.
TITLE II--FACILITATING IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTREACH
Sec. 201. Cooperative agreements and contracts.
Sec. 202. Human resources.
Sec. 203. Liability of prescribed fire managers.
Sec. 204. Environmental review.
Sec. 205. Prescribed fire education program.
TITLE III--REPORTING
Sec. 301. Annual reports to National Fire Planning and Operations
Database.
Sec. 302. Annual implementation report.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Congressional committees.--The term ``congressional
committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry,
and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Natural Resources, the
Committee on Agriculture, and the Committee on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
(2) Federal land.--The term ``Federal land'' means--
(A) land under the jurisdiction of the Secretary;
and
(B) National Forest System land.
(3) Landscape-scale prescribed fire plan.--The term
``landscape-scale prescribed fire plan'' means a decision
document prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) that--
(A) covers a unit of the National Forest System, a
Bureau of Land Management district, or a subunit of
such a unit or district;
(B) analyzes the site-specific environmental
consequences of prescribed fire on land described in
subparagraph (A); and
(C) obviates the need for subsequent decisions
pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) with respect to the unit,
district, or subunit described in subparagraph (A).
(4) National forest system.--
(A) In general.--The term ``National Forest
System'' has the meaning given the term in section
11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources
Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)).
(B) Exclusions.--The term ``National Forest
System'' does not include the national grasslands or
land utilization projects administered under title III
of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act (7 U.S.C. 1010 et
seq.).
(5) Prescribed fire.--The term ``prescribed fire'' means a
fire deliberately ignited to burn wildland fuels in a natural
or modified state--
(A) under specified environmental conditions that
are intended to allow the fire to be confined to a
predetermined area and produce the fireline intensity
and rate of spread required to attain planned resource
management objectives; and
(B) in accordance with applicable law (including
regulations).
(6) Secretaries.--The term ``Secretaries'' means--
(A) the Secretary; and
(B) the Secretary of Agriculture.
(7) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of the Interior.
(8) Secretary concerned.--The term ``Secretary concerned''
means--
(A) the Secretary, in the case of land under the
jurisdiction of the Secretary; and
(B) the Secretary of Agriculture, in the case of
land under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of
Agriculture.
TITLE I--USE OF FUNDS
SEC. 101. DEFINITION OF PRESCRIBED FIRE.
(a) In General.--In this title, the term ``prescribed fire'' has
the meaning given the term in section 2.
(b) Exclusion.--In this title, the term ``prescribed fire'' does
not include a fire that is ignited for the primary purpose of pile
burning.
SEC. 102. PRESCRIBED FIRE FUNDING.
(a) Funding Flexibility.--
(1) Department of agriculture.--The Secretary of
Agriculture may use not more than 15 percent of funds
appropriated for each fiscal year for hazardous fuels
management in the National Forest System for activities
described in subsection (b).
(2) Department of the interior.--The Secretary may use not
more than 15 percent of funds appropriated for each fiscal year
for hazardous fuels management and post-fire activities in the
account for wildland fire management of the Department of the
Interior for activities described in subsection (b).
(b) Description of Activities.--The activities referred to in
subsection (a) are--
(1) with respect to prescribed fires on Federal land, or on
non-Federal land if the Secretary concerned determines that
such activities would benefit resources on Federal land--
(A) entering into procurement contracts or
cooperative agreements for prescribed fire activities;
(B) issuing grants to a State, Tribal government,
local government, prescribed fire council, prescribed
burn association, or nonprofit organization for the
implementation of prescribed fires, including--
(i) carrying out necessary environmental
reviews;
(ii) carrying out any site preparation
necessary for implementing prescribed fires;
and
(iii) conducting any required pre-ignition
cultural or environmental surveys; and
(C) conducting outreach to the public, Indian
Tribes and beneficiaries, and adjacent landowners;
(2) implementing prescribed fires on non-Federal land, if
the Secretary concerned determines that the prescribed fire
would benefit Federal land, including--
(A) carrying out necessary environmental reviews;
(B) carrying out any site preparation necessary for
implementing prescribed fires; and
(C) conducting any required pre-ignition cultural
and environmental surveys;
(3) providing to Federal employees and cooperators training
for prescribed fire and basic smoke management practices;
(4) conducting post-prescribed fire activities, such as
monitoring for hazard trees or reignitions and invasive species
management;
(5) providing technical or financial assistance to a State,
Tribal government, local government, prescribed fire council,
prescribed burn association, or nonprofit organization for the
purpose of providing training for prescribed fire or basic
smoke management practices, consistent with any standards
developed by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group or State
prescribed fire standards; and
(6) providing funding for the applicable Collaborative
Prescribed Fire Program established under section 104.
(c) Prioritization.--
(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), the Secretary
concerned shall coordinate with the other Secretary concerned,
State and local government agencies, Indian Tribes, and
applicable nongovernmental organizations to establish
prioritization criteria for expending amounts pursuant to
subsection (a) for activities described in paragraphs (2), (5),
and (6) of subsection (b).
(2) Requirement.--In establishing criteria under paragraph
(1), the Secretary concerned shall give priority to a project
that is--
(A) implemented across a large contiguous area;
(B) cross-boundary in nature;
(C) in an area that is--
(i) within or adjacent to the wildland-
urban interface and identified as a priority
area in a statewide forest action plan or
Community Wildfire Protection Plan; or
(ii) identified as important to the
protection of a Tribal trust resource or the
reserved or treaty rights of an Indian Tribe;
(D) on land that is at high or very high risk of
experiencing a wildfire that would be difficult to
suppress;
(E) in an area that is designated as critical
habitat and in need of ecological restoration or
enhancement that can be achieved with the aid of
prescribed fire; or
(F) supportive of potential operational
delineations or strategic response zones.
SEC. 103. POLICIES AND PRACTICES.
(a) Increasing Prescribed Fire.--Beginning with the first fiscal
year that begins after the date of enactment of this Act, and for each
of the 9 fiscal years thereafter, the Secretaries shall conduct
prescribed fires on Federal land such that the total acreage of Federal
land on which prescribed fires are conducted is 10 percent greater than
the total acreage of all Federal land on which prescribed fires were
conducted during the preceding fiscal year.
(b) Operational Strategy.--The Secretary concerned shall develop,
in coordination with State, local, and Tribal governments, a prescribed
fire operational strategy for each region of the National Forest System
or the Department of the Interior, as applicable, that describes--
(1) the fire deficit by region; and
(2) staffing and funding needs to address the fire deficit
under paragraph (1).
SEC. 104. COLLABORATIVE PRESCRIBED FIRE PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--The Secretary concerned, in coordination with the
other Secretary concerned, shall establish a Collaborative Prescribed
Fire Program (referred to in this section as the ``program'') to select
and fund prescribed fire projects (each of which is referred to in this
section as a ``project'') in accordance with--
(1) the prioritization criteria established under section
102(c);
(2) the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et
seq.);
(3) the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.);
(4) the applicable land use or land management plan; and
(5) any other applicable law.
(b) Eligibility Criteria.--To be eligible for nomination under
subsection (c), a proposal for a project shall--
(1) be consistent with a landscape restoration strategy--
(A) that is complete or substantially complete;
(B) that identifies and prioritizes prescribed fire
treatments for a 10-year period within a landscape that
is--
(i) not less than 50,000 acres;
(ii) composed primarily of forested Federal
land under the jurisdiction of the Secretary
concerned, but may also include other Federal,
State, Tribal, or private land, if a treatment
on that land would benefit the applicable
Federal land; and
(iii) in need of--
(I) active ecosystem restoration;
or
(II) maintenance activities to
retain previously treated land in a
wildfire-resilient state;
(C) that incorporates the best available science
and scientific application tools to identify project
areas;
(D) that fully maintains, or contributes toward the
restoration of, the structure and composition of old
growth stands according to the pre-fire suppression old
growth conditions characteristic of the forest type--
(i) taking into account the contribution of
the stand to landscape fire adaptation and
watershed health; and
(ii) retaining the large trees contributing
to old growth structure;
(E) under which would be carried out any forest
restoration treatments that reduce hazardous fuels
through the use of fire for ecological restoration and
maintenance and reestablishing natural fire regimes,
where appropriate, which--
(i) may include site preparation, if
necessary to prepare the landscape for
reestablishment of a natural fire regime; and
(ii) shall maximize the retention of large
trees, as appropriate for the forest type, to
the extent that the trees promote fire-
resilient stands; and
(F) under which--
(i) no permanent roads would be
established; and
(ii) funding would be committed to
decommission all temporary roads constructed to
carry out the strategy;
(2) be developed and implemented through a collaborative
process that--
(A) includes multiple interested persons
representing diverse interests; and
(B) is transparent and nonexclusive;
(3) describe plans, as applicable--
(A) to reduce the risk of uncharacteristic
wildfire;
(B) to improve fish and wildlife habitat, including
for endangered, threatened, and sensitive species;
(C) to maintain or improve water quality and
watershed function;
(D) to prevent, remediate, or control invasions of
exotic species;
(E) to maintain, decommission, and rehabilitate
roads and trails;
(F) to report annually on performance, including
setting accomplishment targets for each year;
(G) to take into account any applicable community
wildfire protection plan; and
(H) to mitigate smoke impacts on nearby
communities;
(4) include an analysis of any anticipated cost savings,
including savings resulting from--
(A) a reduced risk of wildfire damages, especially
to high-value resources; and
(B) a decrease in the unit costs of implementing
ecological restoration treatments over time;
(5) include estimates of--
(A) the amount of annual Federal funding necessary
to implement the proposed project; and
(B) the amount of new non-Federal investment for
carrying out the proposed project that would be
leveraged;
(6) describe the collaborative process described in
paragraph (2) through which the proposal was developed,
including a description of--
(A) participation by, or consultation with, State,
local, and Tribal governments; and
(B) any established record of successful
collaborative planning and implementation of prescribed
fire projects on National Forest System land and other
land included in the proposal by the collaborators;
(7) propose to benefit local economies by providing local
employment or training opportunities through contracts, grants,
or agreements for planning, design, implementation, or
monitoring with--
(A) local private, nonprofit, or cooperative
entities;
(B) Youth Conservation Corps crews or related
partnerships with State, local, and nonprofit youth
groups;
(C) existing or proposed small or micro businesses,
clusters, or incubators; or
(D) other entities that will hire or train local
individuals to complete those contracts, grants, or
agreements; and
(8) be subject to any other requirements that the Secretary
concerned determines to be necessary for the efficient and
effective administration of the program.
(c) Nomination Process.--
(1) Submission.--A proposal for a project shall be
submitted to the appropriate Regi