Fix Our Forests Act

Long title	To expedite under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and improve forest management activities on National Forest System lands, on public lands under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management, and on Tribal lands to return resilience to overgrown, fire-prone forested lands, and for other purposes.
Legislative history
Introduced in the United States House of Representatives as H.R. 471 by Bruce Westerman R‑AR, Scott Peters D‑CA on January 16, 2025 Committee consideration by United States House Committee on Natural Resources, United States House Committee on Agriculture, United States House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

The Fix Our Forests Act, H.R. 471, is a bill in the United States House of Representatives to reform forest management regulations in order to reduce wildfire risks. It seeks to reduce permitting requirements and aid forest thinning projects by limiting lawsuits against them, among other provisions.^[1]

The bill was introduced by Representatives Scott Peters (D‑CA) and Bruce Westerman (R‑AR).^[1] The bill was introduced as H.R. 471 on January 16, 2025 in the 119th Congress,^[2] but it had previously been introduced during 2024 as H.R. 8790 in the 118th Congress,^[3] with the same lead sponsors.^[4] H.R. 8709 passed the House with yeas from all Republicans and 55 Democrats.^[5]

The bill passed the House of Representatives 279–141 with the yeas of 215 Republicans and 64 Democrats on January 23, 2025. The bill's passage came during negotiations over disaster aid for the 2025 California wildfires, with President Donald Trump and other Republicans considering using conditions on aid to California as leverage to pass reforms to forest management laws or a debt ceiling increase.^[1] A number of House Democrats, among them southern Californian representatives, expressed opposition to any deal that would trade support for disaster aid.^[5] Some Democrats against the bill, such as Ro Khanna (D‑CA), decried politicization of the disaster. Representative Westerman, while against the usage of disaster aid as pressure to pass the bill, commented that the proposed legislation could have addressed the buildup of vegetation in the Santa Monica Mountains that fueled the fire's rapid spread.^[1]

Bipartisan political support exists for differing reasons. Donald Trump and allied Republicans support reforms to forest management. Progressives support Indigenous cultural burning (preventative burning) practices, which this bill would codify.^[5]

A number of other environmental groups, such as Environment America, the Sierra Club, and the Center for Biological Diversity, oppose it on the grounds that it would undermine the environmental protection laws and harm forests, endangered species, and community oversight of federal land management.^[5] Environment America specifically opposes weakening of protections provided in the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act of 1973, exemptions from environmental review for logging on some federal land, and limitations on bringing lawsuits against federal agencies.^[6]

Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology executive director Tim Ingalsbee described tree thinning, which the act would increase, as counterproductive, leaving behind flammable needles and limbs, and added that backwoods logging would not help against fires started in and burning through urban and near-urban areas. Representative Jared Huffman (D‑CA) added that good provisions of Fix Our Forests included no funding. He recommended his competing bill, the Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Act, which he had co-authored with Representative Jay Obernolte (R‑CA) and centers financial incentives for communities to write their own fire resilience plans.^[7] Against assertions that expanded categorical exclusions, delays of environmental review for logging, and the 120-day statue of limitations would allow the timber industry free reign, Peters aide Paul Iskajyan described tree thinning as only one tool, to be used according to expert decisions following environmental laws, and pointed to improvements to interagency collaboration and research investments.^[7]

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Edison Electric Institute, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company made statements supporting the bill for allowing them to more quickly and widely remove vegetation near power lines.^[8]

The Fix Our Forests Act makes broad changes. Its provisions simplify environmental regulations to speed forest management efforts, stop lawsuits by environmentalists, and help community fire prevention projects.^[5]

A House Committee on Natural Resources press release describes the bill as pursuing the following points:^[9]

• "Simplify and expedite environmental reviews for forest management projects"
• Coordinate grant programs and promote research for community resilience
• "Promote federal, state, tribal and local collaboration"
• "Deter frivolous litigation that delays essential projects"
• Prioritize forests at highest risk and near vulnerable communities
• Encourage federal land managers to use new science and techniques
• Encourage active management for powerline and other infrastructure safety
• "Strengthen tools like Good Neighbor Authority and Stewardship Contracting"
• Ensure continuity in wildland firefighter casualty assistance programs

Co-author Scott Peters, an environmental lawyer, argues that environmental reviews can delay forest management projects for years.^[5] Therefore, it would expedite environmental reviews (pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act) for certain forest management projects and exempt some activities from such review. It would also establish intra-agency "strike teams" to speed reviews and interagency consultations under NEPA, the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and the National Historic Preservation Act. It would also reduce consultation requirements regarding protected species under the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 and Federal Land Management and Policy Act of 1976.^[8]

It designates certain high-risk areas as fireshed management areas;^[8] areas such as the Pacific Palisades would receive priority funding.^[5] The United States Forest Service and United States Geological Survey would create an interagency Fireshed Center responsible for assessing and predicting fire;^[8] the Center would also help coordinate local, state, tribal, and federal fire prevention agencies.^[5][10]

In order to deter frivolous litigation, the bill includes a provision that "A court shall not enjoin a covered agency action if the court determines that the plaintiff is unable to demonstrate that the claim of the plaintiff is likely to succeed on the merits." and requires claims seeking judicial review of covered federal agency actions to be filed within 120 days of the public notice.^[10]

The bill's provisions also include authorization to use new risk assessment methods and tree thinning, prescribed burns, logging, fire breaks, and dead brush removal.^[5]

The bill would also allow electric co-ops to remove trees up to 150 feet from their rights of way in order to prevent them from falling on power lines and starting fires. This is an increase from the current 10 feet.^[8]

The Fix Our Forests Act represents a nationwide expansion of reforms implemented in the Tahoe Basin by the WIIN Act of 2016, which reduced approval waiting periods for forest thinning projects from five years to four months.^[11]

• H.R. 471: Fix Our Forests Act