I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 527
To direct the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the
United States Geological Survey, to establish a grant program for moni-
toring wildfires by satellite.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY16, 2025
Ms. P
ETTERSEN(for herself and Mr. OBERNOLTE) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the
Director of the United States Geological Survey, to es-
tablish a grant program for monitoring wildfires by sat-
ellite.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening Wildfire 4
Resiliency Through Satellites Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. MONITORING WILDFIRES BY SATELLITE. 6
(a) G
RANTPROGRAMTOMONITORWILDFIRES BY 7
S
ATELLITE.— 8
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•HR 527 IH
(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than one year 1
after the date of the enactment of this section, the 2
Secretary shall establish a competitive grant pro-3
gram under which the Secretary shall make at least 4
three grants to eligible entities to monitor wildfires 5
by satellite (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Pro-6
gram’’). 7
(2) E
LIGIBLE PROJECTS.—Each eligible entity 8
awarded a grant under the Program shall only use 9
such grant to— 10
(A) purchase and integrate, through a pub-11
lic-private partnership, high-resolution multi- 12
and hyper-spectral full spectrum imaging capa-13
bility from visible, near-infrared, shortwave in-14
frared, thermal infrared, and radar data from 15
the latest-generation of wildfire monitoring sat-16
ellites; and 17
(B) use the data acquired under subpara-18
graph (A), as well as any analyses relating to 19
such data, to detect, assess, respond to, and 20
manage wildfires, with an emphasis on— 21
(i) monitoring active fire behavior, 22
burned area, intensity, and severity; 23
(ii) ensuring the safety and effective-24
ness of prescribed fire treatments; and 25
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•HR 527 IH
(iii) guiding post-fire risk assessment 1
and disaster recovery. 2
(3) A
PPLICATION.—To be eligible for a grant 3
under the Program, an eligible entity shall submit to 4
the Secretary an application at such time, in such 5
manner, and containing such information as the Sec-6
retary may require. 7
(4) G
RANT AMOUNT .—Each grant awarded 8
under the Program shall be in an amount the Sec-9
retary determines appropriate. 10
(5) R
EPORT.—Not later than the last day of 11
the second fiscal year beginning after the date of the 12
enactment of this section, the Secretary shall submit 13
to Congress a report that includes— 14
(A) the number of applications received for 15
a grant under the Program; 16
(B) details of each eligible entity that was 17
awarded a grant under the Program; 18
(C) the impact of the Program on wildfire 19
prevention; 20
(D) any recommendation that the Sec-21
retary determines appropriate to establish the 22
Program as a long-term grant program; and 23
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•HR 527 IH
(E) any other information on the effective-1
ness of the Program that the Secretary deter-2
mines appropriate. 3
(b) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.—There is 4
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 5
$20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2028 6
to carry out the Program. 7
(c) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section— 8
(1) the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means a State 9
forester, emergency manager, or equivalent State of-10
ficial; and 11
(2) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 12
of the Interior, acting through the Director of the 13
United States Geological Survey. 14
Æ
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