HR 471, “Fix Our Forests Act,” Attempts to Tackle Wildfire Risk

WASHINGTON — On January 23rd, House of Representatives (HR) Bill 471, titled the “Fix Our Forests Act,” passed the United States Congress 279 to 141 with bipartisan support. The bill was introduced by Representative Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and cosponsored by 56 members of Congress (39 Republican, 17 Democrat), including California District 3 Representative Kevin Kiley. The bill aims to improve forest resilience against wildfires primarily by expediting environmental reviews, improving cross-agency cooperation, and limiting judicial intervention for forest management projects.

One of the most time-consuming hurdles in implementing forest management projects is the federal environmental review process established by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, known as NEPA. To speed things up, the Fix Our Forests Act creates several NEPA-exempt processes for designating and analyzing potential project areas. It also expands acreage limits for projects already NEPA-exempt, such as hazardous fuel management and creating fuel breaks, from 3,000 to 10,000 acres. Additionally, it establishes NEPA exclusions for other areas of concern, such as vegetation management activities by electric utility companies.

HR 471 would designate certain high wildfire-risk firesheds as “fireshed management areas” and direct the US Forest Service and US Geological Survey to establish an interagency Fireshed Center. The Center would help manage and predict wildfire risks and would be responsible for maintaining a public, interactive website platform displaying fireshed data and tracking forest projects. The bill also promotes local involvement in wildfire prevention, for example, by allowing broader participation and use of funds for Good Neighbor Agreements, which are cooperative arrangements between federal agencies and local governments often used to facilitate forest management projects.

The bill seeks to reduce litigation by limiting judicial interventions in forest management unless significant environmental harm is proven, also removing some cases where re-consultation is required under the Endangered Species Act. It mandates that courts continue to consider the short- and long-term effects, including impact on the ecosystem and community safety. The bill also prevents courts from outright halting projects for non-fatal legal issues, opting instead to provide 180 days for agencies to correct matters.

Opposition to the bill comes primarily from environmentalist organizations such as the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, and Environment America. These groups argue relaxing NEPA review requirements and limiting legal challenges could lead to consequences for ecosystems and endangered species. However, 36 conservation, wildlife, and hunting/fishing groups signed on to a letter of support for HR 471 led by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. They believe the current review process has fostered a hands-off approach to forest management, which has “created dense, overgrown forests that impair habitat function, compromise water availability and quality, and elevate the risk of uncharacteristically catastrophic wildfire.”

The Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) strongly supports the Fix Our Forests Act. The organization noted that the legislation “will provide much-needed pathways to improve and expedite forest management.” The bill would be particularly relevant in the heavily forested Sierra County, where the US Forest Service controls over half of the land.

Supervisor Lee Adams, the Sierra County Delegate for RCRC, is also a strong supporter, stating, “I am so very pleased that Congressman Kiley is a cosponsor of this bill, along with 18 of his California congressional delegation colleagues from both sides of the aisle. What is being sought in this bill is so long overdue to increase the pace and scale of forest management work to make the national forest system both healthy and able to survive in a changing climate. I am grateful that there is bipartisan support for this bill. I hope that all can support this legislation and not tie it up in bickering or litigation so that real work can get done in the field to both prevent and mitigate fires occurring on national forest lands.” Adams noted that Congressman Westerman, who introduced the bill, is the only professional forester in Congress.

The US Senate will now review the Fix Our Forests Act. If voted through, it will head to the President’s desk to be signed. No schedule has yet been set for future actions. The bill could take several months to pass the Senate, even with strong bipartisan support.