II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 350
To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to select and implement landscape-
scale forest restoration projects, to assist communities in increasing their
resilience to wildfire, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY30, 2025
Mr. P
ADILLA(for himself and Mr. DAINES) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Nat-
ural Resources
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to select and imple-
ment landscape-scale forest restoration projects, to assist
communities in increasing their resilience to wildfire, and
for other purposes.
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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Wildfire Emergency Act of 2025’’. 5
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6
this Act is as follows: 7
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
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TITLE I—LANDSCAPE-SCALE FOREST RESTORATION
Sec. 101. Definitions.
Sec. 102. Purpose.
Sec. 103. Conservation finance agreements.
Sec. 104. Report evaluating implementation.
TITLE II—INCREASING COMMUNITY RESILIENCE TO WILDFIRE
Sec. 201. Critical infrastructure and microgrid program.
Sec. 202. Retrofits for fire-resilient communities.
Sec. 203. Wildfire detection, monitoring, and analysis equipment.
TITLE III—RESEARCH, TRAINING, AND CAPACITY BUILDING
Sec. 301. Western prescribed fire centers.
Sec. 302. Innovative forest workforce development program.
Sec. 303. National community capacity and land stewardship grant program.
TITLE I—LANDSCAPE-SCALE 1
FOREST RESTORATION 2
SEC. 101. DEFINITIONS. 3
In this title: 4
(1) C
ONSERVATION FINANCE AGREEMENT .— 5
The term ‘‘conservation finance agreement’’ means a 6
mutual benefit agreement (excluding a procurement 7
contract, grant, or cooperative agreement described 8
in chapter 63 of title 31, United States Code) for a 9
conservation finance project— 10
(A) the term of which is not less than 2, 11
and not more than 20, years; 12
(B) that may provide that performance 13
under the agreement during the second and 14
subsequent years of the agreement is contingent 15
on the appropriation of funds or receipt of col-16
lections; and 17
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(C) that may provide for a cancellation 1
payment to be made to the conservation finance 2
project developer if those appropriations are not 3
made or collections are not received. 4
(2) C
ONSERVATION FINANCE PROJECT .—The 5
term ‘‘conservation finance project’’ means a 6
project— 7
(A) conducted on National Forest System 8
land and may include land adjoining National 9
Forest System land; 10
(B) that would— 11
(i) protect, restore, or improve Na-12
tional Forest System land; and 13
(ii) use a conservation finance model 14
that employs a debt financing approach 15
that uses loaned capital from a conserva-16
tion finance project investor to cover up- 17
front project costs, with the loaned capital 18
repaid over time by conservation finance 19
project beneficiaries; and 20
(C) the purpose of which is to conduct eco-21
logical restoration treatments that, at the time 22
of selection for a conservation finance agree-23
ment under the pilot program established under 24
section 103(a)— 25
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(i) are conducted under the Collabo-1
rative Forest Landscape Restoration Pro-2
gram established under section 4003 of the 3
Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 4
2009 (16 U.S.C. 7303); 5
(ii)(I) were previously conducted 6
under the Program described in clause (i); 7
(II) are no longer eligible for funding 8
under that Program due to a time limita-9
tion under subsection (b)(1)(B) or 10
(d)(4)(B) of that section; and 11
(III) are otherwise eligible for funding 12
under that Program; 13
(iii) are conducted by a water source 14
investment partnership established under 15
section 303(c) of the Healthy Forests Res-16
toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6542(c)); 17
or 18
(iv) are conducted under the Joint 19
Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnership 20
Program established under section 40808 21
of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs 22
Act (16 U.S.C. 6592d). 23
(3) C
ONSERVATION FINANCE PROJECT BENE -24
FICIARY.—The term ‘‘conservation finance project 25
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beneficiary’’ means a nonprofit, for-profit, or Fed-1
eral, State, local, or Tribal governmental entity or 2
individual that— 3
(A) benefits from conservation finance 4
project outcomes; and 5
(B)(i) provides capital directly to fund a 6
conservation finance project; or 7
(ii) repays to a conservation finance 8
project investor up-front loaned capital for a 9
conservation finance project at a rate of return 10
agreed to by the entity or individual and the 11
conservation finance project investor. 12
(4) C
ONSERVATION FINANCE PROJECT DEVEL -13
OPER.—The term ‘‘conservation finance project de-14
veloper’’ means a nonprofit or for-profit inter-15
mediary that assists in developing, financing, fund-16
ing, or implementing a conservation finance project. 17
(5) C
ONSERVATION FINANCE PROJECT INVES -18
TOR.—The term ‘‘conservation finance project inves-19
tor’’ means a nonprofit, for-profit, or State, local, or 20
Tribal governmental entity or individual that pro-21
vides up-front loaned capital for a conservation fi-22
nance project. 23
(6) E
COLOGICAL INTEGRITY.—The term ‘‘eco-24
logical integrity’’ has the meaning given the term in 25
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section 219.19 of title 36, Code of Federal Regula-1
tions (as in effect on the date of enactment of this 2
Act). 3
(7) L
OW-INCOME COMMUNITY .—The term ‘‘low- 4
income community’’ has the meaning given the term 5
in section 45D(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 6
1986. 7
(8) R
ESTORATION.—The term ‘‘restoration’’ 8
has the meaning given the term in section 219.19 of 9
title 36, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on 10
the date of enactment of this Act). 11
(9) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 12
the Secretary of Agriculture. 13
(10) W
ILDLAND-URBAN INTERFACE.—The term 14
‘‘wildland-urban interface’’ has the meaning given 15
the term in section 101 of the Healthy Forests Res-16
toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511). 17
SEC. 102. PURPOSE. 18
The purpose of this title is to increase the pace and 19
scale of forest restoration and land management projects 20
across the National Forest System by— 21
(1) authorizing a pilot program with conserva-22
tion finance agreement authority to leverage other 23
Federal and non-Federal investment (in addition to 24
funds appropriated to the Forest Service) in land-25
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scape-scale, multistakeholder land management ac-1
tivities and related natural and built infrastructure 2
and associated local employment opportunities; 3
(2) encouraging project planning and analysis 4
that effectively scale up to the landscape level of 5
100,000 acres or more; 6
(3) supporting projects that emphasize— 7
(A) the reintroduction of characteristic 8
fire, based on forest ecology and reference con-9
ditions, through the use of prescribed fire, wild-10
fire managed for resource benefits, or both; 11
(B) restoring terrestrial and aquatic areas 12
that lack ecological integrity; or 13
(C) reducing the risk of uncharacteristic 14
wildfire and improving forest resiliency; 15
(4) requiring ecological standards and collabo-16
ration for landscape-scale projects; and 17
(5) coordinating with Federal, State, local, and 18
Tribal entities to support the pilot program de-19
scribed in paragraph (1) by taking full advantage of 20
existing interagency agreements and authorities. 21
SEC. 103. CONSERVATION FINANCE AGREEMENTS. 22
(a) P
ILOTPROGRAMAUTHORITY.—The Secretary 23
shall establish a pilot program under which the Secretary 24
may enter into a conservation finance agreement with a 25
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public or private person, including a for-profit or nonprofit 1
organization, to carry out a conservation finance project 2
if the Secretary finds each of the following: 3
(1) There is a reasonable expectation that, 4
throughout the contemplated agreement period, the 5
Secretary will request funding for the agreement at 6
the level required to avoid agreement cancellation. 7
(2) The environmental analysis for the project 8
demonstrates that there is a supply sufficient to sup-9
port a conservation finance agreement of— 10
(A) small-diameter material; or 11
(B) other hazardous fuels, the removal of 12
which would reduce the risk of uncharacteristic 13
wildfire. 14
(3) The use of the conservation finance agree-15
ment will assist in achieving the purpose described 16
in section 102. 17
(4) The project involves a conservation finance 18
project developer. 19
(b) L
IMITEDDELEGATION.—The Secretary may not 20
delegate the pilot program authority under subsection (a) 21
to a Federal official that serves under the Chief of the 22
Forest Service. 23
(c) L
IMITATIONS.—The pilot program authority 24
under subsection (a)— 25
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(1) may not be used to enter into more than 20 1
conservation finance agreements; 2
(2) may be used for the obligation under con-3
servation finance agreements of— 4
(A) during the 10-year period beginning on 5
the date of enactment of this Act, not more 6
than $250,000,000 in the aggregate; and 7
(B) not more than $50,000,000 for any 1 8
conservation finance agreement; and 9
(3) may not be used to reimburse for interest 10
paid to any other entity providing funds for the ap-11
plicable conservation finance project. 12
(d) P
RIORITY.—In entering into conservation finance 13
agreements under subsection (a), the Secretary shall give 14
priority to projects described in that subsection that are 15
based on restoration strategies addressing larger land-16
scapes, particularly landscapes of 100,000 acres or more. 17
(e) C
ANCELLATION, TERMINATION, ORMODIFICA-18
TION FORINSUFFICIENTFUNDING.— 19
(1) I
N GENERAL.— 20
(A) I
NSUFFICIENT FUNDING .—If funds are 21
not made available for the continuation of a 22
conservation finance agreement made under 23
this section into a subsequent fiscal year, the 24
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agreement shall be canceled, terminated, or 1
modified. 2
(B) P
AYMENT OF COSTS.—If the Secretary 3
determines that it is necessary to cancel or ter-4
minate a conservation finance agreement pursu-5
ant to subparagraph (A), and the conservation 6
finance agreement includes a cancellation or 7
termination provision as described in paragraph 8
(2)(A), the Secretary may pay the costs of that 9
cancellation or termination using any of the fol-10
lowing amounts: 11
(i) Appropriations originally available 12
for the performance of the applicable con-13
servation finance agreement. 14
(ii) Appropriations currently available 15
for the type of services concerned under 16
the applicable conservation finance agree-17
ment, and not otherwise obligated. 18
(iii) Funds appropriated for payment 19
of the costs of cancellation or termination. 20
(2) P
ROVISIONS IN AGREEMENTS .— 21
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may in-22
clude cancellation or termination provisions in 23
conservation finance agreements under this sec-24
tion to the extent that those provisions are nec-25
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essary and in the best interests of the United 1
States. 2
(B) C
ONSIDERATIONS.—The cancellation 3
or termination provisions described in subpara-4
graph (A) may include consideration of the re-5
curring and nonrecurring costs of the conserva-6
tion finance project developer under the applica-7
ble conservation finance agreement. 8
(3) C
ANCELLATION AND TERMINATION 9
COSTS.— 10
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may ob-11
ligate funds in stages that are economically or 12
programmatically viable to cover any potential 13
cancellation or termination costs related to the 14
Federal share of the costs under a conservation 15
finance agreement under paragraph (1)(B) and 16
implement the agreement pursuant to this sec-17
tion. 18
(B) A
DVANCE NOTICE TO CONGRESS OF 19
CANCELLATION OR TERMINATION COSTS IN EX -20
CESS OF $25,000,000.—Not later than 30 days 21
before entering into a conservation finance 22
agreement under this section that includes can-23
cellation or termination costs in excess of 24
$25,000,000, but does not include proposed 25
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funding for the costs of cancelling or termi-1
nating the agreement up to the maximum can-2
cellation or termination costs in the agreement, 3
the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 4
Energy and Natural Resources and the Com-5
mittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 6
of the Senate and the Committee on Natural 7
Resources and the Committee on Agriculture of 8
the House of Representatives a written notice 9
that includes— 10
(i) a description of the cancellation or 11
termination cost amounts proposed for 12
each program year in the agreement; 13
(ii) the reasons why the cancellation 14
or termination cost amounts described 15
under clause (i) were selected; 16
(iii) a description of the extent to 17
which the costs of agreement cancellation 18
or termination are not included in the 19
budget for the agreement; and 20
(iv) an assessment of the financial 21
risk of not including budgeting for the 22
costs of agreement cancellation or termi-23
nation. 24
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(C) TRANSMITTAL OF NOTICE TO OMB .— 1
Not later than 14 days after the date on which 2
written notice is provided under subparagraph 3
(B), the Secretary shall transmit a copy of the 4
notice to the Director of the Office of Manage-5
ment and Budget. 6
(D) D
ETERMINATION OF CANCELLATION 7
OR TERMINATION COSTS SPECIFIC TO A CON -8
SERVATION FINANCE AGREEMENT .—The Sec-9
retary may enter into a conservation finance 10
agreement pursuant to this section that in-11
cludes conservation finance project developer 12
services in return for payments by the Sec-13
retary in future years that are contingent on 14
the appropriation of funds, subject to the re-15
quirement that the Secretary shall pay the con-16
servation finance project developer the Federal 17
share of the cancellation or termination costs 18
under the agreement pursuant to paragraph 19
(1)(B) up to the limitation on cancellation or 20
termination costs applicable to the agreement if 21
funding for the completion of the agreement is 22
not appropriated. 23
(f) N
ON-FEDERALCOSTSHARE.— 24
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(1) IN GENERAL.—The non-Federal share of 1
the costs of implementing a conservation finance 2
agreement carried out using amounts made available 3
under this title shall be not less than 40 percent of 4
the costs of implementing the conservation finance 5
agreement, of which, subject to paragraph (2)— 6
(A) up to 50 percent may be reimbursed 7
by the Forest Service, subject to the availability 8
of appropriations and subsections (c)(3) and 9
(e); and 10
(B) not less than 50 percent shall be cov-11
ered by non-Federal funding, which may include 12
in-kind contributions. 13
(2) C
OST SHARE FOR LOW -INCOME COMMU -14
NITIES.—In the case of a conservation finance 15
project that the Secretary determines would pri-16
marily benefit 1 or more low-income communities 17
and for which the non-Federal entities involved can-18
not meet the cost share requirement under para-19
graph (1)— 20
(A) subparagraph (A) of that paragraph 21
shall be applied by substituting ‘‘75 percent’’ 22
for ‘‘50 percent’’; and 23
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(B) subparagraph (B) of that paragraph 1
shall be applied by substituting ‘‘25 percent’’ 2
for ‘‘50 percent’’. 3
(3) S
AVINGS PROVISION.—Nothing in this sub-4
section limits additional non-Federal financing or 5
funding for a conservation finance project above the 6
40 percent minimum non-Federal cost share de-7
scribed in paragraph (1). 8
(g) S
TEWARDSHIP ENDRESULTCONTRACTING 9
P
ROJECTAUTHORITIES.—A conservation finance agree-10
ment developed under this section may incorporate the au-11
thorities provided to the Secretary and the Chief of the 12
Forest Service to enter into stewardship contracting 13
projects under section 604 of the Healthy Forests Res-14
toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591c). 15
SEC. 104. REPORT EVALUATING IMPLEMENTATION. 16
Not later than 4 years after the date of enactment 17
of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee 18
on Natural Resources and the Committee on Appropria-19
tions of the House of Representatives and the Committee 20
on Energy and Natural Resources and the Committee on 21
Appropriations of the Senate a report evaluating the im-22
plementation of this title, including— 23
(1) a list of conservation finance agreements 24
entered into under this title and the accomplish-25
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ments under the projects carried out under those 1
agreements; and 2
(2) an evaluation of the pilot authority for con-3
servation finance agreements described in section 4
103, including whether that authority has— 5
(A) increased the availability of non-Fed-6
eral funding sources to assist in landscape-scale 7
forest restoration projects; 8
(B) promoted private or other non-Federal 9
investment in— 10
(i) new or existing infrastructure and 11
related equipment that can make use of 12
the byproducts of forest restoration; 13
(ii) the use of prescribed fire at a 14
greater scale; 15
(iii) related economic development and 16
workforce training and development; 17
(iv) land management activities en-18
hancing natural infrastructure with bene-19
fits for downstream water users; or 20
(v) mitigating the risk of 21
uncharacteristic wildfire; and 22
(C) any barriers limiting the broader use 23
or implementation of the pilot project authority 24
to additional projects, including risks that may 25
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discourage further participation and investment 1
by outside parties. 2
TITLE II—INCREASING COMMU-3
NITY RESILIENCE TO WILD-4
FIRE 5
SEC. 201. CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND MICROGRID 6
PROGRAM. 7
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
(1) C
RITICAL FACILITY.— 9
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘critical fa-10
cility’’ means a facility that provides services or 11
may be used— 12
(i) to save lives; 13
(ii) to protect property, public health, 14
and public safety; or 15
(iii) to lessen or avert the threat of a 16
catastrophe. 17
(B) I
NCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘critical facil-18
ity’’ includes— 19
(i) a hospital; 20
(ii) an outpatient clinic; 21
(iii) a nursing home; 22
(iv) a police station; 23
(v) an emergency operation center; 24
(vi) a jail or prison; 25
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(vii) a fire station; 1
(viii) a facility in the communications 2
sector, as determined by the Secretary; 3
(ix) a facility in the chemical sector, 4
as determined by the Secretary; 5
(x) a school or other large building 6
that may serve as a temporary gathering 7
space; 8
(xi) a utility station, such as a water 9
station, wastewater station, community 10
water system, or irrigation works; 11
(xii) a facility described in subpara-12
graph (A) that is owned or operated by, or 13
provides services to, an Indian Tribe (as 14
defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-De-15
termination and Education Assistance Act 16
(25 U.S.C. 5304)); 17
(xiii) a Federal facility, including a 18
military base or installation; and 19
(xiv) any other facility described in 20
subparagraph (A), as determined by the 21
Secretary. 22
(2) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 23
the Secretary of Energy. 24
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(b) CRITICALINFRASTRUCTURE AND MICROGRID 1
P
ROGRAM.— 2
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 3
a program— 4
(A) to improve the energy resilience and 5
power needs of critical facilities through the de-6
velopment and use of microgrids, renewable en-7
ergy, energy efficiency, reduced electricity de-8
mand, and on-site storage; 9
(B) to improve the energy efficiency of 10
critical facilities by decreasing the size and cost 11
of generators; 12
(C) to provide technical assistance and fa-13
cilitate the distribution and sharing of informa-14
tion to develop more resilient electricity systems 15
(including bulk systems and localized systems); 16
and 17
(D) to promulgate consumer-facing infor-18
mation and resources to inform the public on 19
best practices and resources related to increas-20
ing resilience of electricity systems and reducing 21
the impacts of extreme weather events on elec-22
tricity systems. 23
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(2) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out the pro-1
gram established under paragraph (1), the Secretary 2
shall ensure, with respect to critical facilities— 3
(A) provision of on-site back-up power with 4
renewable resources, low-carbon liquid fuels, 5
and on-site energy storage technologies; and 6
(B) installation, at the transmission and 7
distribution level, of interoperable technologies, 8
advanced power flow control, dynamic line rat-9
ing, topology optimization, and communications 10
systems. 11
(3) I
NTERESTED PARTY INPUT .—In estab-12
lishing the program under paragraph (1), the Sec-13
retary shall seek the input of State energy regu-14
lators, electric utilities (as defined in section 3 of the 15
Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796)), regional trans-16
mission organizations and independent system oper-17
ators, electric utility customers and ratepayer orga-18
nizations, local governments, community choice 19
aggregators or regional energy collaboratives, and 20
other interested parties. 21
(c) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 23
appropriated to the Secretary $100,000,000 to carry 24
out this section, to remain available until expended. 25
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(2) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS .—Of the amount 1
used to carry out this section, not more than 10 per-2
cent shall be used for salaries and expenses, admin-3
istrative management, and oversight of the program 4
established under subsection (b)(1). 5
SEC. 202. RETROFITS FOR FIRE-RESILIENT COMMUNITIES. 6
(a) D
EFINITION OF WEATHERIZATION MATE-7
RIALS.—Section 412(9) of the Energy Conservation and 8
Production Act (42 U.S.C. 6862(9)) is amended— 9
(1) in subparagraph (I), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 10
the end; 11
(2) by redesignating subparagraph (J) as sub-12
paragraph (K); and 13
(3) by inserting after subparagraph (I) the fol-14
lowing: 15
‘‘(J) materials that are resistant to high 16
heat and fire; and’’. 17
(b) W
EATHERIZATIONPROGRAM.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 413(b)(6) of the En-19
ergy Conservation and Production Act (42 U.S.C. 20
6863(b)(6)) is amended— 21
(A) in subparagraph (C), by striking 22
‘‘and’’ at the end; 23
(B) in subparagraph (D), by striking the 24
period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 25
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(C) by adding at the end the following: 1
‘‘(E) owners of such dwelling units shall 2
use fire- and drought-resistant building mate-3
rials, including mass timber, and incorporate 4
wildfire and drought prevention and mitigation 5
planning, as directed by the State.’’. 6
(2) L
IMITATIONS.—Section 415(c) of the En-7
ergy Conservation and Production Act (42 U.S.C. 8
6865(c)) is amended— 9
(A) in paragraph (1)— 10
(i) by redesignating subparagraphs 11
(A) through (E) as clauses (i) through (v), 12
respectively, and indenting appropriately; 13
(ii) in the matter preceding clause (i) 14
(as so redesignated), in the second sen-15
tence, by striking ‘‘Labor’’ and all that fol-16
lows through ‘‘to—’’ and inserting the fol-17
lowing: 18
‘‘(B) L
ABOR AND WEATHERIZATION MATE -19
RIALS.—Labor, weatherization materials, and 20
related matter described in subparagraph (A) 21
includes—’’; 22
(iii) by striking ‘‘(c)(1) Except’’ and 23
inserting the following: 24
‘‘(c) F
INANCIALASSISTANCE.— 25
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‘‘(1) AVERAGE COST.— 1
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except’’; 2
(iv) in subparagraph (A) (as so des-3
ignated)— 4
(I) by striking ‘‘exceed an aver-5
age of $6,500’’ and inserting the fol-6
lowing: ‘‘exceed— 7
‘‘(i) an average of $13,000 (adjusted 8
annually for inflation)’’; 9
(II) in clause (i) (as so des-10
ignated), by striking the period at the 11
end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 12
(III) by adding at the end the 13
following: 14
‘‘(ii) another average amount that is 15
greater than the amount described in 16
clause (i), if the Secretary determines it 17
necessary to waive or adjust the average 18
amount established under that clause.’’; 19
and 20
(v) in subparagraph (B) (as so des-21
ignated)— 22
(I) in clause (iv) (as so redesig-23
nated), by striking ‘‘, and’’ and insert-24
ing ‘‘; and’’; and 25
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(II) in clause (v) (as so redesig-1
nated), by adding a period at the end; 2
and 3
(B) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘$3,000’’ 4
and inserting ‘‘$6,000 (adjusted annually for 5
inflation)’’. 6
SEC. 203. WILDFIRE DETECTION, MONITORING, AND ANAL-7
YSIS EQUIPMENT. 8
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Title VI of the Healthy Forests 9
Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591 et seq.) is 10
amended by adding at the end the following: 11
‘‘SEC. 607. WILDFIRE DETECTION, MONITORING, AND ANAL-12
YSIS EQUIPMENT. 13
‘‘To the extent practicable, the Secretary of Agri-14
culture and the Secretary of the Interior shall— 15
‘‘(1) expedite the placement of wildfire detec-16
tion equipment, such as sensors, cameras, and other 17
relevant equipment, in areas at risk of wildfire; 18
‘‘(2) expand the use of satellite and remote 19
sensing data and mobile technologies to assist wild-20
fire response, management, and firefighter safety 21
through improved situational awareness; 22
‘‘(3) expedite any permitting required by the 23
Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of the In-24
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terior for the installation, maintenance, or removal 1
of wildfire detection equipment; 2
‘‘(4) review permitting described in paragraph 3
(3) and procurement requirements for wildfire detec-4
tion equipment within the context of modern and in-5
novative technology; 6
‘‘(5) pursuant to the OPEN Government Data 7
Act (title II of Public Law 115–435; 132 Stat. 8
5534), the amendments made by that Act, and any 9
guidance issued by the Director of the Office of 10
Management and Budget under that Act or those 11
amendments, support the disclosure to the public of 12
nonconfidential data assets the disclosure of which 13
does not pose security risks to the public so that 14
wildland fire data is discoverable, understandable, 15
and actionable; and 16
‘‘(6) utilize new and existing technologies to 17
analyze performance measurements and suppression 18
effectiveness of wildland fire incidents.’’. 19
(b) T
ECHNICALAMENDMENT.—The table of contents 20
for the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 21
U.S.C. 6501 note; Public Law 108–148) is amended by 22
adding at the end of the items relating to title VI the fol-23
lowing: 24
‘‘Sec. 607. Wildfire detection, monitoring, and analysis equipment.’’.
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TITLE III—RESEARCH, TRAIN-1
ING, AND CAPACITY BUILD-2
ING 3
SEC. 301. WESTERN PRESCRIBED FIRE CENTERS. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture and 5
the Secretary of the Interior (referred to in this section 6
as the ‘‘Secretaries’’) shall establish 1 or more centers to 7
train individuals in prescribed fire methods and other 8
methods relevant to the mitigation of wildfire risk (re-9
ferred to in this section as a ‘‘center’’). 10
(b) H
OSTINSTITUTIONS.—The 1 or more centers 11
shall be— 12
(1) located at 1 or more institutions of higher 13
education; or 14
(2) developed in collaboration with 1 or more 15
institutions of higher education. 16
(c) G
OALS.—The 1 or more centers shall advance the 17
following goals: 18
(1) Training individuals and conducting re-19
search on prescribed fire methods and other restora-20
tion methods relevant to the mitigation of wildfire 21
risk. 22
(2) Developing and advancing interdisciplinary 23
science relating to wildfire, including social science 24
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and human dimensions of wildfire, in consultation 1
with stakeholders who— 2
(A) need that science; 3
(B) will benefit from the outcomes of that 4
science; and 5
(C) will coordinate with 1 or more other 6
centers in developing and advancing that 7
science. 8
(3) Conducting ongoing and forward-looking 9
needs assessments among stakeholders, including 10
Federal and State agencies and Indian Tribes, to de-11
termine common need requirements and emerging 12
challenges to reduce wildfire risk and adapt commu-13
nities to increased risk from wildfire, including the 14
following hazard-related focus areas: 15
(A) Increasing disaster resilience. 16
(B) Mitigation and management methods. 17
(C) Air quality. 18
(D) Firestorm weather forecasting and 19
burn-area debris flow forecasting, including em-20
pirical and modeling research. 21
(4) Collaborating with Federal wildfire sci-22
entists at the Forest Service, the Department of the 23
Interior, and other related agencies. 24
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(5) Identifying, through a detailed engagement 1
process targeting defined end-users, the require-2
ments and delivery mechanisms for products and 3
services that are practical and will have an impact 4
on mitigating wildfire risk. 5
(6) Promoting technology transfer with path-6
ways for dissemination, implementation, and applica-7
tion of research results on the ground, using and en-8
hancing previous research. 9
(7) Ensuring the connectivity and interoper-10
ability of distributed services to maximize synergies 11
and benefits across services. 12
(8) Developing open digital infrastructure to 13
make research data, science, and models open for all 14
sectors to use. 15
(9) Understanding the effectiveness of historical 16
and current wildfire management and suppression 17
strategies, including on wildfires that start in wilder-18
ness areas, wilderness study areas, or inventoried 19
roadless areas. 20
(d) L
OCATION.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The 1 or more centers shall 22
be located in any State the entirety of which is lo-23
cated west of the 100th meridian. 24
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(2) CONSULTATION.—The Secretaries shall con-1
sult with the Joint Fire Science Program to solicit 2
and evaluate proposals for the location of the 1 or 3
more centers. 4
(3) S
ELECTION.—Not later than 1 year after 5
the date of enactment of this Act, based on the con-6
sultation under paragraph (2), the Secretaries shall 7
select a location for the 1 or more centers. 8
SEC. 302. INNOVATIVE FOREST WORKFORCE DEVELOP-9
MENT PROGRAM. 10
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 11
(1) C
AREER IN FORESTRY AND FIRE MANAGE -12
MENT.—The term ‘‘career in forestry and fire man-13
agement’’ means a career in a field relating to for-14
ests and the restoration to the natural fire regimes 15
of forests, including— 16
(A) in timber operations; 17
(B) as a registered professional forester; 18
(C) in vegetation treatment, including as a 19
member of a hand crew, a machine operator, 20
and in conducting prescribed fires as part of a 21
fire restoration workforce that is capable of 22
conducting large landscape restorative and 23
maintenance prescribed fires; 24
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(D) in ecological restoration, including res-1
toration of watersheds; 2
(E) in wildland fire fighting; and 3
(F) in community fire resilience, including 4
workforce development projects. 5
(2) F
ORESTRY AND FIRE MANAGEMENT .—The 6
term ‘‘forestry and fire management’’ includes the 7
areas of fields relating to forests described in sub-8
paragraphs (A) through (F) of paragraph (1). 9
(3) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 10
the Secretary of Agriculture. 11
(b) G
RANTSAUTHORIZED.—The Secretary shall es-12
tablish a competitive grant program— 13
(1) to assist in the development and utilization 14
of innovative activities relating to workforce develop-15
ment in forestry and fire management and opportu-16
nities for careers in forestry and fire management; 17
and 18
(2) to expand public awareness about forestry 19
and fire management and connect individuals to ca-20
reers in forestry and fire management. 21
(c) S
ELECTION OFGRANTRECIPIENTS.—In award-22
ing grants under subsection (b), the Secretary shall, to 23
the extent practicable, select nonprofit professional or 24
service organizations, labor organizations, State agencies, 25
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community colleges, institutions of higher education, or 1
other training and educational institutions— 2
(1) that have qualifications and experience— 3
(A) in the development of training pro-4
grams and curricula relevant to the workforce 5
needs of forestry and fire management; 6
(B) working in cooperation with forestry 7
and fire management; or 8
(C) developing public education materials 9
appropriate for communicating with groups of 10
various ages and educational backgrounds; and 11
(2) that will address the human resources and 12
workforce needs of forestry and fire management. 13
(d) U
SE OFFUNDS.—Grants awarded under sub-14
section (b) may be used for activities such as— 15
(1) targeted internships, apprenticeships, pre- 16
apprenticeships, and post-secondary bridge programs 17
for skilled forestry and fire management trades that 18
provide— 19
(A) on-the-job training; 20
(B) skills development; 21
(C) test preparation for skilled trade ap-22
prenticeships; 23
(D) advance training in forestry and fire 24
management relating to jobs as forest 25
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restorationists, members of hand crews, 1
wildland fire fighters, machine operators, li-2
censed timber operators, registered professional 3
foresters, ecologists, biologists, or workers in 4
construction in support of resilient infrastruc-5
ture, including residential buildings; or 6
(E) other support services to facilitate 7
post-secondary success; 8
(2) education programs designed for elemen-9
tary, secondary, and higher education students 10
that— 11
(A) inform people about the role of for-12
estry, vegetation management, and ecological 13
restoration in the communities of those people; 14
(B) increase the awareness of opportunities 15
for careers in forestry and fire management 16
and exposure of students to those careers 17
through various work-based learning opportuni-18
ties inside and outside the classroom; and 19
(C) connect students to pathways to ca-20
reers in forestry and fire management; 21
(3) the development of a model curriculum and 22
related vocational programs to be adopted by com-23
munity colleges, which, to the extent practicable and 24
feasible, shall— 25
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(A) provide professional training in imple-1
menting prescribed fire projects, including the 2
knowledge and skills necessary to plan and im-3
plement broad-scale surface and ladder fuel 4
treatments within the wildland-urban interface, 5
wildlands, and urbanized areas, as appropriate; 6
(B) include a focus on the ecological con-7
cerns, economics, and practices necessary to im-8
prove community safety and forest resilience; 9
and 10
(C) train students in— 11
(i) the retrofitting of houses, including 12
the use of fire-resistant materials and the 13
maintenance of defensible space; 14
(ii) urban forestry; and 15
(iii) policies or guidance relating to 16
the management of vegetation near utility 17
infrastructure and relevant portions of 18
electric utility wildfire mitigation plans; 19
(4) regional industry and workforce develop-20
ment collaborations, including the coordination of 21
candidate development, particularly in areas of high 22
unemployment; 23
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(5) integrated learning laboratories in sec-1
ondary educational institutions that provide students 2
with— 3
(A) hands-on, contextualized learning op-4
portunities; 5
(B) dual enrollment credit for post-sec-6
ondary education and training programs; and 7
(C) direct connection to industry or gov-8
ernment employers; and 9
(6) leadership development, occupational train-10
ing, mentoring, or cross-training programs that en-11
sure that workers are prepared for high-level super-12
visory or management-level positions. 13
(e) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 14
are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 15
out this section such sums as are necessary. 16
SEC. 303. NATIONAL COMMUNITY CAPACITY AND LAND 17
STEWARDSHIP GRANT PROGRAM. 18
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 19
(1) C
OMMUNITY CAPACITY .—The term ‘‘com-20
munity capacity’’ means the ability of an eligible en-21
tity to carry out or assist in a land stewardship ac-22
tivity. 23
(2) D
ISADVANTAGED COMMUNITY .—The term 24
‘‘disadvantaged community’’ means— 25
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(A) a low-income community (as defined in 1
section 45D(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 2
1986); and 3
(B) a community that includes a signifi-4
cant population that has been systematically de-5
nied a full opportunity to participate in aspects 6
of economic, social, and civic life based on a 7
particular characteristic, such as Black, Latino, 8
Indigenous, and Native American persons, 9
Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and other 10
persons of color. 11
(3) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-12
ty’’ means any the following entities that is located 13
in or represents a disadvantaged community: 14
(A) An organization described in section 15
501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 16
and exempt from taxation under section 501(a) 17
of that Code. 18
(B) A collaborative group fiscally spon-19
sored by an organization described in subpara-20
graph (A). 21
(C) A unit of local government. 22
(D) An Indian Tribe. 23
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(E) A special district government, as de-1
fined by the Director of the Bureau of the Cen-2
sus. 3
(4) E
COLOGICAL INTEGRITY.—The term ‘‘eco-4
logical integrity’’ has the meaning given the term in 5
section 219.19 of title 36, Code of Federal Regula-6
tions (as in effect on the date of enactment of this 7
Act). 8
(5) I
NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 9
has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 10
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 11
Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 12
(6) L
AND STEWARDSHIP ACTIVITY .—The term 13
‘‘land stewardship activity’’ means any of the fol-14
lowing activities, as applied to a qualifying project: 15
(A) Planning. 16
(B) Collaboration and building community 17
support. 18
(C) Implementation on land other than 19
National Forest System land. 20
(D) Monitoring, including multiparty moni-21
toring, and adaptive management. 22
(7) Q
UALIFYING PROJECT.—The term ‘‘quali-23
fying project’’ means any of the following activities 24
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that takes place at least in substantial part on Na-1
tional Forest System land or national grasslands: 2
(A) Restoration of the ecological integrity 3
of a forest, meadow, grassland, prairie, or other 4
habitat. 5
(B) Tribal management for aligned cul-6
tural and ecological values. 7
(C) Enhancing community wildfire resil-8
ience in the wildland-urban interface. 9
(D) Increasing equitable access to environ-10
mental education and volunteerism opportuni-11
ties. 12
(8) R
ESTORATION.—The term ‘‘restoration’’ 13
has the meaning given the term in section 219.19 of 14
title 36, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on 15
the date of enactment of this Act). 16
(9) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 17
the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through— 18
(A) the regional offices of the State and 19
Private Forestry Deputy Area of the Forest 20
Service; and 21
(B) as appropriate, regional offices of 22
other Deputy Areas of the Forest Service. 23
(b) P
URPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to sup-24
port increasing community capacity, partnerships, and col-25
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laborations within and involving disadvantaged commu-1
nities for land stewardship activities and restoration of ec-2
ological integrity on— 3
(1) National Forest System land; 4
(2) national grasslands; and 5
(3) adjacent private, State, and trust land asso-6
ciated with the health and resilience of land de-7
scribed in paragraphs (1) and (2). 8
(c) A
DMINISTRATION.— 9
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may issue 10
grants to eligible entities for increasing community 11
capacity for land stewardship activities and related 12
activities based on the criteria described in sub-13
section (d). 14
(2) F
EDERAL COST-SHARE.— 15
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may 16
fund up to 100 percent of the cost of land stew-17
ardship activities and related activities carried 18
out using a grant issued under paragraph (1). 19
(B) M
ATCHING ELIGIBILITY .—A grant 20
issued under this section may be considered a 21
non-Federal matching contribution from the eli-22
gible entity that received the grant towards 23
other sources of Federal funding. 24
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(3) DURATION.—The Secretary may issue a 1
grant under paragraph (1) for a period of 1 or more 2
years. 3
(4) M
AXIMUM GRANT AMOUNT .—The amount of 4
a grant issued under paragraph (1) shall be not 5
more than $50,000 per year. 6
(5) A
PPLICABLE LAWS.—The Secretary shall 7
administer grants under paragraph (1) in accord-8
ance with all applicable Federal and State laws. 9
(d) C
RITERIA FORAWARDINGGRANTS.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 11
the Secretary shall award grants to eligible entities 12
under subsection (c)(1) on a competitive basis in ac-13
cordance with the following criteria: 14
(A) The extent to which the proposed land 15
stewardship activities benefit units of the Na-16
tional Forest System and national grasslands 17
over the short and long term. 18
(B) The extent to which valuable ecologi-19
cal, economic, and social benefits to disadvan-20
taged communities, including job creation and 21
business development or retention, are likely to 22
result from the scope of the land stewardship 23
activities. 24
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(C) The extent to which the grant would 1
benefit disadvantaged communities that have 2
historically received less investment in collabo-3
rative capacity. 4
(D) The extent to which the proposal 5
brings together diverse interests through plan-6
ning, collaboration, implementation, or moni-7
toring of land stewardship activities to benefit 8
units of the National Forest System or national 9
grasslands. 10
(E) The extent to which the grant funds 11
appear to be critical for the success of the eligi-12
ble entity and the identified land stewardship 13
activities. 14
(F) The extent to which the budget for the 15
land stewardship activities is reasonable given 16
the anticipated outcomes. 17
(2) S
ET-ASIDE FOR INDIAN TRIBES .—The Sec-18
retary shall allocate not less than 10 percent of the 19
funding awarded under this section to Indian Tribes 20
or eligible entities representing Indian Tribes. 21
(e) A
NNUALREVIEWS.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 23
and maintain an advisory panel composed of not 24
more than 15 members to provide feedback each 25
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year to each regional office of the State and Private 1
Forestry Deputy Area of the Forest Service on the 2
extent to which the implementation of this section by 3
the regional office is fulfilling the purpose described 4
in subsection (b). 5
(2) I
NCLUSIONS.—The advisory panel estab-6
lished under paragraph (1) shall include representa-7
tion from a diversity of public land stakeholders 8
from across interest groups, including— 9
(A) not fewer than 8 members rep-10
resenting the interests of a diversity of dis-11
advantaged communities; and 12
(B) not fewer than 2 members rep-13
resenting not fewer than 2 Indian Tribes. 14
(3) E
XEMPTION.—The advisory panel estab-15
lished under paragraph (1) shall be exempt from 16
chapter 10 of title 5, United States Code (commonly 17
referred to as the ‘‘Federal Advisory Committee 18
Act’’). 19
(f) R
EPORTEVALUATINGPROGRAMIMPLEMENTA-20
TION.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 4 years after 22
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 23
shall submit to the Committee on Natural Resources 24
and the Committee on Appropriations of the House 25
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of Representatives and the Committee on Energy 1
and Natural Resources and the Committee on Ap-2
propriations of the Senate a report evaluating the 3
implementation of this section, including— 4
(A) a list of the eligible entities and land 5
stewardship activities selected for funding under 6
this section and the accomplishments of those 7
activities; and 8
(B) an evaluation of the extent to which 9
the implementation of this section is fulfilling 10
the purpose described in subsection (b). 11
(2) C
ONSULTATION; CONTRACTING.—In pre-12
paring the report under paragraph (1), the Sec-13
retary— 14
(A) shall consult with the advisory panel 15
established under subsection (e)(1); and 16
(B) may contract with a third party to 17
complete an evaluation of the implementation of 18
this section to inform the report. 19
(g) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.— 20
(1) I
N GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 21
appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this sec-22
tion $50,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2025 23
through 2029. 24
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(2) DISTRIBUTION.—The Secretary shall dis-1
tribute amounts made available under paragraph (1) 2
to the regional offices of the State and Private For-3
estry Deputy Area and, as appropriate, regional of-4
fices of other Deputy Areas, of the Forest Service to 5
administer the grants under this section. 6
(3) A
DMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Not more than 7
10 percent of any amounts made available to carry 8
out this section may be used for administrative man-9
agement and program oversight. 10
Æ
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