# Plain Language Summary: Action Versus No Action Act

This bill changes how the government evaluates forest management projects on public lands. Currently, when the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management plans a forest project—like thinning trees to reduce wildfire risk or harvesting timber—they must study multiple different approaches to the project and compare them all. This bill would cut that down to just two options: either do the proposed project or do nothing at all. No other alternatives would need to be considered.

The bill applies specifically to forest management activities that happen on lands suitable for timber production and meet certain conditions, like being developed through community collaboration, proposed by local advisory committees, or covered by a community wildfire protection plan. When evaluating the "do nothing" option, the government would need to consider what happens if they don't act—including effects on forest health, wildfire risk, disease and insect infestations, wildlife habitat, water supply, and potential losses of life and property from wildfires.

The practical effect is that forest management projects would move through the approval process faster and with less analysis of alternative approaches. Supporters argue this streamlines decision-making and gets needed forest management work done quicker. Critics worry it limits public input and reduces consideration of different ways to achieve forest management goals. For people living near national forests or depending on public lands, this could mean faster implementation of forest projects in their area, though with fewer alternative options formally studied and compared before decisions are made.

Action Versus No Action Act

Rep. McClintock, Tom [R-CA-5]

Action Versus No Action Act This bill limits the scope of certain environmental assessments or impact statements related to forest management activities on National Forest System lands or public lands suitable for timber production to a consideration only of the effects of the forest management activity and the alternative of no action. Specifically, the bill applies to assessments or impact statements prepared by the Department of Agriculture (USDA), with respect to National Forest System lands, or the Department of the Interior, with respect to public lands, for forest management activities that meet at least one of the criteria specified. In the case of the alternative of no action, USDA or Interior shall consider whether to evaluate <ul> <li>the effect of no action on, among other things, forest health, wildfire potential, insect and disease potential, and timber production; and </li> <li>the implications of a resulting decline in forest health, loss of habitat diversity, wildfire, or insect or disease infestation on potential losses of life and property, domestic water supply in the project area, and wildlife habitat loss. </li> </ul>