Why It Matters: Sportsmen and women depend on healthy forests to provide access and quality wildlife habitat, and the Fix Our Forests Act (H.R. 8790) would enact policy reforms that will bolster active forest management to address the restoration needs on the more than 117 million acres of fire-prone forests. The legislation is critical to reducing catastrophic wildfire risk and increasing forest resiliency to support the outdoor sporting traditions of millions of sportsmen and women who depend on federal public lands for recreational access.
Highlights:
- The bipartisan Fix Our Forests Acts is a top priority for the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) and others in the sporting-conservation community to enable federal land managers to tackle the extensive backlog of forest and watershed restoration needs on public lands through science-based forest stewardship policy improvements.
- On September 24, the Fix Our Forests Act passed the House of Representatives on a strong bipartisan vote (268 – 151), which demonstrates the need to overcome long-running misguided controversy over federal forest management to make real strides to restore forests and mitigate against wildlife risk with science-based sustainable forest management practices.
- So far in 2024, more than 7 million acres of forests have burned, negatively impacting communities, forests, and wildlife habitat.
On June 9, Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (CSC) Co-Chair Representative Bruce Westerman and Representative Scott Peters introduced the Fix Our Forests Act (H.R. 8790), which would enact several longstanding federal forest policy priorities for the sportsmen’s community. The House Natural Resources Committee favorably reported the legislation to the House of Representatives, as amended, on June 26.
Specifically, the Fix Our Forests Act would designate fireshed management areas for the prioritization of active management to reduce wildfire risk including increasing acreage limitations on several existing categorical exclusions. H.R. 8790 would also establish an interagency office known as the Fireshed Center to promote data sharing and coordination among agencies to streamline processes and comprehensively address wildfire threats to communities. Additionally, among other reforms, the legislation would clarify consultation requirements for the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management following the 2015 Cottonwood Environmental Law Center v. U.S. Forest Service decision that has hindered forest management projects, strengthen the Good Neighbor Authority, reauthorize the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, enact reforms to discourage litigation that hinders forest health improvement projects, and codify 20-year stewardship contracting.
CSF appreciates the leadership of CSC Co-Chair Rep. Westerman and Rep. Peters on this critical issue for land managers and the sportsmen’s community. While the legislation likely faces a tough uphill battle in the Senate, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) is optimistic that the strong bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives will send a message to policymakers to include federal forest management reforms in any potential upcoming legislative packages.
