# 119-s-1462: Fix Our Forests Act 119-s-1462, Fix Our Forests Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Curtis, John R. [R-UT] (R-UT); status in_committee; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-31). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1462 - As of: 2026-10-31 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: 119-s-1462 - Congress: 119 - Title: Fix Our Forests Act - Status: in_committee - Introduced: 2025-04-10 - Sponsor: Sen. Curtis, John R. [R-UT] (R-UT) - Cosponsors: 3 - Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources - Touches household money: yes - Last recorded action: 2026-10-31 ## Summary **A national fireshed management framework** would create mapped firesheds, a public Fireshed Registry, and new authorities to speed landscape wildfire projects. It would also establish a joint Wildland Fire Intelligence Center for real‑time science, data, and operational decision support. - Families and communities: A unified grant portal and broadened Community Wildfire Defense program would make it easier to get funding for home hardening, defensible space, and landscape fuels reduction in prioritized firesheds. - Tribes and local governments: Expands tribal contracting and cooperative agreements, funds tribal prescribed‑fire work, and provides liability protections for covered non‑Federal partners working under direct Federal supervision. - Fire managers, contractors, and utilities: Creates faster review paths and higher acreage thresholds for expedited projects (administrative review raised from about 3,000 to 10,000 acres), extends stewardship contracts to 20 years with limited cancellation payments, and requires a local contractor preference where practicable. ## Cosponsors (3) - Sen. Hickenlooper, John W. [D-CO] (D-CO), 2025-04-10T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Sheehy, Tim [R-MT] (R-MT), 2025-04-10T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA] (D-CA), 2025-04-10T00:00:00.000Z ## Provisions PRIA read - Advance payments for private forest owners: benefit, high. If enacted, owners of nonindustrial private forest land could choose to get up to 75% of emergency measure costs before work begins. You would have 180 days to spend the funds and must return unspent amounts. The rule also expands which wildfires qualify for the program. - Faster disaster payments for farmers: benefit, high. If enacted, the bill would let agricultural producers get advance Emergency Conservation payments before work starts. The advance could be 75% of replacement costs or 50% of repair/restoration costs, as the Secretary decides. The bill would also extend the time to act from 60 days to 180 days and b… - Local contractor preference and longer contracts: benefit, high. If enacted, the bill would require the Forest Service to prefer local contractors for hazardous fuels work when practical. It would lengthen stewardship contracts up to 20 years and require a cancellation payment (the lesser of 10% of the contract or unrecovered amortized costs) for new multiyear c… - Unified disaster application and family help: benefit, medium. If enacted, FEMA would build one unified online disaster- assistance application within 360 days. The system would let survivors apply, update information, get status updates, and share data across certified agencies to speed help. The bill also requires a new program to help next-of-kin and surviv… - More prescribed fire, grazing, and contracts: benefit, medium. If enacted, the Secretaries could sign up to 10‑year cooperative agreements with states, tribes, local governments, nonprofits, and private entities to plan and run prescribed burns. The bill defines prescribed fire, allows grants and training from existing programs, and aims to include qualified n… - Plans to grow more tree seedlings: benefit, medium. If enacted, the Forest Service must make and start a national plan within 1 year to expand Federal, State, Tribal, and private tree nursery capacity. The Secretaries must also create a 'Seeds of Success' strategy within 1 year to boost domestic seed supply, speed seed permits on BLM land, expand st… - Bigger reforestation and white oak efforts: benefit, medium. If enacted, Interior must set up an Interior Reforestation Program within 1 year with annual project lists and cost estimates. USDA would create a White Oak initiative and NIFA would fund research and partnerships. DOI and the Forest Service must run five white oak pilot projects each. The Secretar… - Grants, research, and a single grant portal: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would create a Community Wildfire Defense Research Program to test ways to harden homes and communities. The Secretaries must also set up a Community Wildfire Risk Reduction Program to coordinate agencies and give communities a simpler portal and single grant application. The p… - Priority firesheds, registry, and faster projects: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would name priority "fireshed management areas" for a 5-year period and require fast public mapping. The government would build a public Fireshed Registry with risk maps, planned projects, permit timetables, and project cost estimates. Agencies could use faster review authoriti… - Faster reimbursements for fire departments: benefit, medium. If enacted, the Secretaries must set standard payment rules within 1 year for fire suppression cost‑share agreements. Federal payers would have to reimburse a local fire department or State wildland agency that submits an appropriate invoice. The bill says repayments should happen as soon as practi… - More tree clearing near power lines: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would let agencies treat trees that may come within 150 feet of power lines as hazards. Electric companies could get permits to cut trees near lines and would have to give sale proceeds (less some costs) to the government. The bill would also require agencies to talk with priva… - New wildfire intelligence and tech pilots: benefit, medium. If enacted, Agriculture and Interior would set up a joint Wildfire Intelligence Center within 1 year to give real‑time risk analytics and forecasts. The bill would fund pilots for new wildfire tech and buy modern satellite data to detect and manage fires. The agencies must evaluate an aerial firefi… - Protect watersheds and speed hazard work: benefit, medium. If enacted, the Secretary could fund sponsors to do emergency watershed protection on National Forest land with waived matching rules and partial payments, and final payment within 30 days. Projects must finish within 2 years after the disaster and may include up to 3 years of maintenance. The bill… - Protecting watersheds and water supplies: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would add a watershed-protection objective to forest management and change the Water Source Protection Program rules. It would define adjacent land, require landowner support before doing work on adjacent land, and generally require non-Federal partners to contribute at least 2… - Expanded community wildfire defense grants: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would let Community Wildfire Defense grants pay for more projects, including home retrofits, defensible space, evacuation-route hardening, and landscape fuels treatments. Projects inside designated fireshed management areas could get priority. Administrative fees for the progra… - New fire science and biochar programs: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would create and fund new research, demonstration, and training programs. It would set up a biochar demonstration partnership and applied biochar research grants, establish regional wildland fire research centers, expand nursery and seed-orchard grants, run an innovation prize… - Tribal prescribed burns and training: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would clarify Tribal authorities and let Tribes carry out prescribed burn projects under approved burn plans, including demonstrations that allow multiple burns. The Secretaries would post which Tribal activities are allowed and treat Tribal employees doing approved work as For… - More partnerships with tribes and states: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would expand shared stewardship and Good Neighbor Authority partnerships to include Indian Tribes and special districts. It would let Secretaries enter cooperative agreements with more local entities and allow Governors to request fireshed boundary changes. Some amended project… - Which communities and local governments qualify: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would change who counts as an 'at-risk community' to include interface communities, groups of homes in firesheds or risk assessments, and areas the Secretary of Agriculture names. It would also expand the HFRA definition of local government to add special districts and raise mu… - New claim option for New Mexico: benefit, low. If enacted, the bill would let New Mexico recover certain design and construction costs for a native seed research and production center in eligible fire claims. The costs must be incurred by December 31, 2030, and any payment for the center would wait until pending individual claims are resolved. - Studies on Forest Service, smoke, and pests: benefit, low. If enacted, the Comptroller General must study Forest Service firefighting effectiveness and the feasibility of a new wildfire agency within 3 years. The Secretaries and EPA must study two recent Canada resource exchanges and report on smoke reduction within 1 year. The Forest Service must study pi… - Faster forest planning but fewer reviews: mixed, medium. If enacted, the bill would push the agencies to keep forest plans current and post plans and monitoring reports online. At the same time, it would limit when agencies must reinitiate Endangered Species Act consultation on certain plans and set a 150-day deadline for many legal challenges to covered… ## Related bills - 119-s-5066: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026 - 119-s-3923: Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Reauthorization Act of 2026 - 119-s-3597: National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act of 2026 - 119-s-4744: Take Care of America’s Veterans Act - 119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025 - 119-s-199: A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide special rules for the taxation of certain residents of Taiwan with income from sources within the… ## Sources - [119-s-1462 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1462) ## Related - [119-s-5066: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5066) - [119-s-3923: Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Reauthorization Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3923) - [119-s-3597: National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3597) - [119-s-4744: Take Care of America’s Veterans Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4744) - [119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1241) - [119-s-199: A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide special rules for…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-199) - [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1462 (as of 2026-10-31).