The Fix Our Forests Act (H.R. 471), passed the U.S. House of Representatives on January 23, 2025, with a bipartisan vote of 279-141. This legislation, sponsored by House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and Representative Scott Peters (D-CA), will provide much needed pathways to improve and expedite forest management and wildfire prevention measures on USDA Forest Service (USFS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands, and tribal lands; and to improve forest resilience, watershed health and resistance to wildfire.
RCRC member counties are home to more than 80 percent of USDA Forest Service (USFS) land across California, and the vast majority of the state’s BLM lands can be found in these rural counties. Many of California’s catastrophic wildfires, such as the Caldor Fire; the August Complex Fire; and the North Complex Fire have originated on federally managed lands.
The Fix Our Forests Act would significantly improve the health of federal forest lands by prioritizing fire risk for federal lands nationwide; expanding collaborative tools to improve forest health such as allowing intra-agency strike teams and expanding the revenue provisions under Good Neighbor Authority; and addressing frivolous litigation under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) that can keep projects tied up in court for months or even years. The Act would also create: several categorical exclusions to expedite fuels treatment projects; and programs designed to enhance and sustain interagency coordination and transparency.
RCRC strongly supports this legislation. The measure has strong bipartisan support with 56 co-sponsors currently, including 20 Representatives from the California delegation. It now moves to the Senate for consideration.
Please contact RCRC Senior Policy Advocate, Staci Heaton, for additional information