This bill creates a federal assistance program to help private forest owners and timber businesses respond to pine beetle outbreaks. When pine beetles damage forests on privately-owned land, the government will provide financial help to pay for recovery efforts like tree harvesting, prescribed burning, debris removal, and insecticide treatments.

For private forest owners, the government will cover up to 85 percent of the costs to restore their forests after a beetle outbreak. For timber service businesses (companies that cut trees or provide tree services), the government will cover up to 50 percent of their labor and equipment costs when they work on beetle recovery projects. To qualify, the affected forest must be in a county that experienced a recent natural disaster like drought, wildfire, hurricane, flood, or ice storm, and forest surveys must confirm pine beetles are actually present in the area.

The bill also allows the government to make emergency loans to forest owners to help them pay for beetle response measures upfront, with loans covering at least 75 percent of the estimated costs. If a forest owner receives both a loan and a cost-share payment for the same outbreak, they can use the payment to pay down their loan balance. Additionally, the bill authorizes supplemental grants to state, tribal, and local governments to help with beetle response and damage repair efforts.