II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 449
To amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to require the Sec-
retary of Agriculture to expedite hazardous fuel or insect and disease
risk reduction projects on certain National Forest System land, and
for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY6 (legislative day, FEBRUARY5), 2025
Mr. T
HUNE(for himself and Mr. RISCH) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition,
and Forestry
A BILL
To amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003
to require the Secretary of Agriculture to expedite haz-
ardous fuel or insect and disease risk reduction projects
on certain National Forest System land, 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. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Expediting Forest Res-4
toration and Recovery Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. APPLICATION BY FOREST SERVICE OF AUTHORI-1
TIES TO EXPEDITE ENVIRONMENTAL ANAL-2
YSES IN CARRYING OUT HAZARDOUS FUEL 3
AND INSECT AND DISEASE RISK REDUCTION 4
PROJECTS. 5
Section 104 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act 6
of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6514) is amended by adding at the 7
end the following: 8
‘‘(i) A
PPLICATION BYFORESTSERVICE OFAUTHORI-9
TIESTOEXPEDITEENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSES INCAR-10
RYINGOUTHAZARDOUSFUEL ANDINSECT ANDDISEASE 11
R
ISKREDUCTIONPROJECTS.— 12
‘‘(1) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 13
‘‘(A) I
NSECT AND DISEASE TREATMENT 14
AREA.—The term ‘insect and disease treatment 15
area’ means an area that— 16
‘‘(i) is designated by the Secretary as 17
an insect and disease treatment area under 18
this title; or 19
‘‘(ii) is designated as at-risk or a haz-20
ard on the most recent National Insect and 21
Disease Risk Map published by the Forest 22
Service. 23
‘‘(B) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ 24
has the meaning given the term in section 25
101(14)(A). 26
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‘‘(2) USE OF AUTHORITIES.—In carrying out a 1
hazardous fuel or insect and disease risk reduction 2
project authorized under this Act in an insect and 3
disease treatment area, the Secretary shall— 4
‘‘(A) apply the categorical exclusion estab-5
lished by section 603 if the project is carried 6
out in an insect and disease treatment area— 7
‘‘(i) designated as suitable for timber 8
production within the applicable forest 9
plan; or 10
‘‘(ii) where timber harvest activities 11
are not prohibited; 12
‘‘(B) conduct applicable environmental as-13
sessments and environmental impact statements 14
in accordance with this section if the project is 15
carried out in— 16
‘‘(i) an insect and disease treatment 17
area— 18
‘‘(I) outside of an area described 19
in subparagraph (A); or 20
‘‘(II) where other significant re-21
source concerns exist, as determined 22
exclusively by the Secretary; or 23
‘‘(ii) an insect and disease treatment 24
area equivalent to not less than a Hydro-25
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logic Unit code 5 watershed, as defined by 1
the United States Geological Survey; and 2
‘‘(C) notwithstanding subsection (d), in the 3
case of any other hazardous fuel or insect and 4
disease risk reduction project, in the environ-5
mental assessment or environmental impact 6
statement prepared under subsection (b), study, 7
develop, and describe— 8
‘‘(i) the proposed agency action; and 9
‘‘(ii) the alternative of no action. 10
‘‘(3) P
RIORITY FOR REDUCING RISKS OF IN -11
SECT INFESTATION AND WILDFIRE .—Except where 12
established as a mandatory standard that constrains 13
project and activity decisionmaking in a resource 14
management plan (as defined in section 101(13)(A)) 15
in effect on the date of enactment of this Act, in the 16
case of an insect and disease treatment area, the 17
Secretary shall prioritize reducing the risks of insect 18
and disease infestation and wildfire over other plan-19
ning objectives. 20
‘‘(4) I
NCLUSION OF FIRE REGIME GROUP IV .— 21
Notwithstanding section 603(c)(2)(B), the Secretary 22
shall apply the categorical exclusion described in 23
paragraph (2)(A) to areas in Fire Regime Group IV. 24
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‘‘(5) EXCLUDED AREAS.—This subsection shall 1
not apply to— 2
‘‘(A) a component of the National Wilder-3
ness Preservation System; or 4
‘‘(B) an inventoried roadless area, except 5
in the case of an activity that is permitted 6
under— 7
‘‘(i) the final rule of the Secretary en-8
titled ‘Special Areas; Roadless Area Con-9
servation’ (66 Fed. Reg. 3244 (January 10
12, 2001)); or 11
‘‘(ii) a State-specific roadless area 12
conservation rule. 13
‘‘(6) R
EPORTS.—The Secretary shall annually 14
make publicly available data describing the acreage 15
treated under hazardous fuel or insect and disease 16
risk reduction projects in insect and disease treat-17
ment areas during the previous year.’’. 18
SEC. 3. GOOD NEIGHBOR AUTHORITY. 19
Section 8206(b)(2) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 20
(16 U.S.C. 2113a(b)(2)) is amended by striking subpara-21
graph (C) and inserting the following: 22
‘‘(C) T
REATMENT OF REVENUE .—Funds 23
received from the sale of timber by a Governor 24
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of a State under a good neighbor agreement 1
shall be retained and used by the Governor— 2
‘‘(i) to carry out authorized restora-3
tion services under that good neighbor 4
agreement; and 5
‘‘(ii) if funds remain after carrying 6
out authorized restoration services under 7
clause (i), to carry out authorized restora-8
tion services within the State under other 9
good neighbor agreements.’’. 10
Æ
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