# Plain Language Summary: Fix Our Forests Act

This bill aims to speed up and expand forest management efforts across federal lands and tribal territories to reduce catastrophic wildfires. The core idea is that overgrown forests with too much dead wood and dense vegetation are extremely fire-prone, and the government needs to move faster to thin these forests, remove hazardous materials, and restore them to healthier conditions. The bill creates new tools and streamlines existing processes to make this happen while also protecting communities near forests and supporting firefighters.

The bill establishes a new "Fireshed Center" that will identify and prioritize the most dangerous fire-prone areas and coordinate restoration work across federal agencies, states, tribes, and local communities. Instead of each agency working separately, this creates a unified approach to tackle high-risk regions. The bill also makes it easier for agencies to approve and carry out forest management projects by reducing some of the environmental review requirements that typically slow down these decisions. It expands collaborative programs that bring together different stakeholders—including private landowners, conservation groups, and local governments—to work on larger landscape-scale restoration projects that cross property lines and jurisdictions.

For communities living near forests, the bill funds programs to reduce wildfire risks around homes and businesses, helps electric utility companies clear vegetation from power lines to prevent fire-caused outages, and supports research into new firefighting technologies. It also creates a new assistance program for firefighters and their families who are injured or killed while fighting wildfires. Additionally, the bill includes specific initiatives to restore white oak forests, which have declined significantly, and addresses issues like tree nursery shortages that limit reforestation efforts after fires.

Overall, this legislation is designed to make forest management faster and more coordinated while giving communities and firefighters better protection and support. The bill reflects a focus on active management and thinning rather than letting forests grow unchecked, with the goal of reducing the severity and frequency of destructive wildfires.

Fix Our Forests Act

Westerman, Bruce

Fix Our Forests ActThis bill establishes requirements for managing forests on federal land, including requirements concerning reducing wildfire threats, expediting the review of certain forest management projects, and implementing forest management projects and other activities.Specifically, the bill (1)&nbsp;designates certain firesheds&nbsp;at high risk for wildfires as fireshed management areas; (2) directs the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Geological Survey to jointly establish an interagency Fireshed Center that is responsible for duties related to assessing and predicting fire, including maintaining a fireshed registry on a publicly accessible website that provides interactive geospatial data on individual firesheds; and (3) makes other requirements related to reducing wildfire.Next, the bill expedites the review of certain forest management projects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 and exempts certain activities from NEPA review. It also establishes intra-agency strike teams to accelerate the review and any interagency consultation processes under NEPA, the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and the National Historic Preservation Act. It also limits consultation requirements concerning threatened and endangered species under the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 and the Federal Land Management and Policy Act of 1976. Finally, it limits litigation involving fireshed management projects and limits remedies that courts may provide.Additionally, the bill supports reducing community wildfire risks, carrying out forest restoration and stewardship activities (including watershed protection and restoration), conducting biochar demonstration projects, advancing technologies to address forest wildfires, and assisting wildland firefighters and their families.