II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 91
To improve Federal activities relating to wildfires, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY14, 2025
Ms. C
ORTEZMASTO(for herself and Mr. SHEEHY) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources
A BILL
To improve Federal activities relating to wildfires, 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
‘‘Western Wildfire Support 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.
Sec. 2. Definitions.
TITLE I—PREPARATION
Sec. 101. Firefighting account transparency.
Sec. 102. Reimbursement for wildfires caused by military training.
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Sec. 103. Strategic wildland fire management planning.
Sec. 104. Study on integrating local firefighters into wildfire response.
TITLE II—WILDFIRE DETECTION AND SUPPRESSION SUPPORT
Sec. 201. Wildfire detection equipment.
Sec. 202. Slip-on tank units.
Sec. 203. Research and development of unmanned aircraft system fire applica-
tions.
Sec. 204. Study on drone incursions on wildfire suppression.
Sec. 205. Study on modernizing wildfire response technologies.
TITLE III—POST-FIRE RECOVERY SUPPORT
Sec. 301. Funding for online guides for post-disaster assistance.
Sec. 302. Post-fire management and recovery.
Sec. 303. Long-Term Burned Area Rehabilitation account.
Sec. 304. Prize for wildfire-related invasive species reduction.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
1
In this Act: 2
(1) C
ONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES .—The term 3
‘‘congressional committees’’ means— 4
(A) the Committee on Energy and Natural 5
Resources and the Committee on Appropria-6
tions of the Senate; and 7
(B) the Committee on Natural Resources 8
and the Committee on Appropriations of the 9
House of Representatives. 10
(2) F
EDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 11
means— 12
(A) public lands (as defined in section 103 13
of the Federal Land Policy and Management 14
Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702)); 15
(B) units of the National Park System; 16
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(C) units of the National Wildlife Refuge 1
System; 2
(D) land held in trust by the United States 3
for the benefit of Indian Tribes or members of 4
an Indian Tribe; and 5
(E) land in the National Forest System. 6
(3) F
IRESHED.—The term ‘‘fireshed’’ means a 7
geographically delineated forest landscape, within 8
which a fire ignition would threaten homes, commu-9
nities, or critical infrastructure. 10
(4) N
ATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM .— 11
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘National 12
Forest System’’ has the meaning given the term 13
in section 11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland 14
Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 15
U.S.C. 1609(a)). 16
(B) E
XCLUSION.—The term ‘‘National 17
Forest System’’ does not include— 18
(i) the national grasslands and land 19
utilization projects administered under title 20
III of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant 21
Act (7 U.S.C. 1010 et seq.); or 22
(ii) National Forest System land east 23
of the 100th meridian. 24
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(5) RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN .—The term 1
‘‘resource management plan’’ has the meaning given 2
the term in section 101 of the Healthy Forests Res-3
toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511). 4
(6) S
ECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 5
means— 6
(A) the Secretary of the Interior; and 7
(B) the Secretary of Agriculture. 8
(7) S
ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term ‘‘Sec-9
retary concerned’’ means— 10
(A) the Secretary of the Interior, in the 11
case of Federal land under the jurisdiction of 12
the Secretary of the Interior; and 13
(B) the Secretary of Agriculture, in the 14
case of Federal land under the jurisdiction of 15
the Secretary of Agriculture. 16
TITLE I—PREPARATION 17
SEC. 101. FIREFIGHTING ACCOUNT TRANSPARENCY. 18
(a) A
NNUALREPORTING.—Section 104(a) of division 19
O of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (43 20
U.S.C. 1748a–2(a)), is amended— 21
(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 22
striking ‘‘the fiscal year’’ and all that follows 23
through ‘‘this division,’’ and inserting ‘‘each fiscal 24
year,’’; and 25
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(2) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘report with 1
respect to the additional new budget authority;’’ and 2
inserting ‘‘report on the amounts obligated and the 3
amounts expended from Wildland Fire Management 4
accounts, including any amounts obligated or ex-5
pended using additional new budget authority under 6
section 251(b)(2)(F) of the Balanced Budget and 7
Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 8
901(b)(2)(F)), in the preceding fiscal year;’’. 9
(b) I
NCLUSIONS.—Section 104(b) of division O of the 10
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (43 U.S.C. 1748a– 11
2(b)), is amended— 12
(1) in paragraph (3), in the matter preceding 13
subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘a statistically signifi-14
cant sample of large fires, including an analysis for 15
each fire’’ and inserting ‘‘each catastrophic wildfire 16
described in subsection (c), including an analysis for 17
each such catastrophic wildfire’’; and 18
(2) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘by fire size’’ 19
and all that follows through the semicolon at the end 20
and inserting the following: ‘‘by— 21
‘‘(A) the total ground-based operations 22
costs; 23
‘‘(B) the total aircraft operations costs; 24
‘‘(C) the total personnel costs; 25
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‘‘(D) the total on-incident and off-incident 1
support costs; 2
‘‘(E) the total funding allocated from the 3
Wildland Fire Management account of the Sec-4
retary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agri-5
culture (as applicable) to pay for administrative 6
costs; and 7
‘‘(F) any other relevant factors, as deter-8
mined by the Secretary of the Interior or the 9
Secretary of Agriculture (as applicable);’’. 10
(c) C
ATASTROPHICWILDFIREDESCRIBED.—Section 11
104 of division O of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 12
2018 (43 U.S.C. 1748a–2), is amended by adding at the 13
end the following: 14
‘‘(c) C
ATASTROPHICWILDFIREDESCRIBED.—A cat-15
astrophic wildfire referred to in subsection (b)(3) is a wild-16
fire incident or wildfire complex that— 17
‘‘(1) requires the mobilization or use of Federal 18
firefighting resources; 19
‘‘(2)(A) burns at least 100,000 acres of land; or 20
‘‘(B) burns at least 50,000 acres of land, with 21
a 50 percent or greater portion at high severity; and 22
‘‘(3)(A) results in total suppression costs of 23
$50,000,000 or more; 24
‘‘(B) destroys 1 or more primary residences; or 25
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‘‘(C) directly results in the death of 1 or more 1
individuals.’’. 2
SEC. 102. REIMBURSEMENT FOR WILDFIRES CAUSED BY 3
MILITARY TRAINING. 4
(a) M
UTUALAID.—In accordance with section 2 of 5
the Act of May 27, 1955 (42 U.S.C. 1856a) (commonly 6
known as the ‘‘Reciprocal Fire Protection Act’’), the Sec-7
retary of Defense shall seek to enter into reciprocal agree-8
ments with State agencies for mutual aid in furnishing 9
fire suppression services. 10
(b) R
EIMBURSEMENTS.—Each reciprocal agreement 11
entered into under subsection (a) shall provide for the re-12
imbursement of the State agency that is a party to the 13
agreement for fire suppression services provided by the 14
State agency as a result of a fire caused by military train-15
ing or other planned actions carried out by the Depart-16
ment of Defense in support of military operations. 17
(c) L
IMITATION.—Services reimbursable under sub-18
section (b) shall be limited to services directly attributable 19
to the fire for which reimbursement is sought. 20
(d) A
PPLICATION.—Each application from a State 21
agency for reimbursement for services under subsection 22
(b) shall provide an itemized request of the services cov-23
ered by the application, including the costs of the services. 24
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(e) FUNDS.—Reimbursements under subsection (b) 1
shall be made from amounts authorized to be appropriated 2
to the Department of Defense for operation and mainte-3
nance. 4
(f) E
XISTINGAGREEMENTS.—An agreement in effect 5
as of the date of enactment of this Act shall be considered 6
an agreement entered into under subsection (a) if the 7
agreement otherwise meets the requirements of such an 8
agreement under this section. 9
SEC. 103. STRATEGIC WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT PLAN-10
NING. 11
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than September 30, 12
2026, the Secretary concerned shall review existing spatial 13
fire management policies for each fireshed on Federal land 14
and issue, as appropriate, new or revised policies that in-15
corporate the best available science and planning tools. 16
(b) R
EQUIREMENTS.—Spatial fire management poli-17
cies issued under subsection (a) shall— 18
(1) be routinely reviewed and updated— 19
(A) to include forest management activities 20
or changes in accessibility; 21
(B) not later than 1 year after the date on 22
which a wildfire incident has occurred within 23
the applicable fireshed; and 24
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(C) not less frequently than once every 10 1
years; 2
(2) identify potential wildfire and smoke risks 3
to first responders, communities, critical infrastruc-4
ture, and high-value resources; 5
(3) be consistent with any resource manage-6
ment plan developed for the applicable fireshed; 7
(4) in coordination with any State that includes 8
that fireshed, delineate potential wildland fire oper-9
ational delineations that— 10
(A) identify potential wildfire control loca-11
tions; and 12
(B) specify the places in which risk to 13
wildfire responders may be elevated as a result 14
of— 15
(i) exceeding a certain slope for the 16
landscape; 17
(ii) containing an excess of hazardous 18
fuels such that a threat would be posed 19
under severe fire weather conditions; or 20
(iii) containing other known hazards; 21
(5) include a description of the weather condi-22
tions for the fireshed that would comprise severe fire 23
weather conditions; and 24
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(6) include other prefire planning provisions rel-1
evant to wildfire response, at the discretion of the 2
Secretary concerned. 3
(c) W
ILDFIRECONSIDERATIONDURINGLANDMAN-4
AGEMENTPLANNING.—To the maximum extent prac-5
ticable, the Secretary concerned shall include, on a team 6
carrying out any development or revision of a resource 7
management plan for Federal land containing 1 more 8
firesheds, an employee that was involved in the develop-9
ment of the spatial fire management policies for that 10
fireshed. 11
SEC. 104. STUDY AND REPORT ON INTEGRATING LOCAL 12
FIREFIGHTERS INTO WILDFIRE RESPONSE. 13
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 14
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland 15
Security, acting through the Administrator of the U.S. 16
Fire Administration and in coordination with the National 17
Wildfire Coordinating Group, shall— 18
(1) conduct a study on the gaps in training for 19
structural firefighters in high wildfire risk areas; 20
and 21
(2) submit to the congressional committees a 22
report describing the results of the study conducted 23
under paragraph (1). 24
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(b) INCLUSIONS.—The report submitted under sub-1
section (a)(2) shall include— 2
(1) a summary of existing coordination prac-3
tices between Federal wildland firefighters and 4
State, local, or Tribal firefighters; 5
(2) an analysis of the differences in best re-6
sponse practices for State, local, or Tribal fire-7
fighters when responding to a fire incident that 8
threatens a single structure as compared to a wild-9
fire that threatens a community; 10
(3) existing training modules, or gaps in exist-11
ing training modules, available through the National 12
Fire Academy to train State, local, or Tribal fire-13
fighters on best response practices for a wildfire that 14
threatens a community; and 15
(4) an estimated cost and spending plan to ad-16
dress any gaps in existing training modules de-17
scribed in paragraph (3). 18
TITLE II—WILDFIRE DETECTION 19
AND SUPPRESSION SUPPORT 20
SEC. 201. WILDFIRE DETECTION EQUIPMENT. 21
To the extent practicable, the Secretary concerned 22
shall— 23
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(1) expedite the placement of wildfire detection 1
equipment, such as sensors, cameras, and other rel-2
evant equipment, in areas at risk of wildfire; 3
(2) expand the use of satellite data to improve 4
wildfire detection and response; 5
(3) expedite any permitting required by the 6
Secretary concerned for the installation, mainte-7
nance, or removal of wildfire detection equipment; 8
(4) use unmanned aerial vehicles to assess 9
wildland fires in their incipient stages to determine 10
the appropriate initial response actions; 11
(5) review permitting described in paragraph 12
(3) and procurement requirements for wildfire detec-13
tion equipment within the context of modern and in-14
novative technology; and 15
(6) annually provide a forum for companies en-16
gaging in the development and testing of emergent 17
wildland fire technology to engage with wildland fire 18
managers. 19
SEC. 202. SLIP-ON TANKER UNITS. 20
(a) F
INANCIALASSISTANCE FOR ACQUISITION OF 21
F
IREFIGHTING SLIP-ONTANKER UNITS.—Section 22
40803(c)(5) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs 23
Act (16 U.S.C. 6592(c)(5)) is amended by inserting ‘‘and 24
Indian Tribes’’ after ‘‘local governments’’. 25
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(b) REPORTINGREQUIREMENT.— 1
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Inte-2
rior shall submit to the Committee on Energy and 3
Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee 4
on Natural Resources of the House of Representa-5
tives an annual report on the implementation of sec-6
tion 40803(c)(5) of the Infrastructure Investment 7
and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 6592(c)(5)), including a 8
description of— 9
(A) the total number of slip-on tanker 10
units purchased with financial assistance pro-11
vided by the Secretary of the Interior under 12
that section in the preceding year, by State; 13
(B) the number of requests received by the 14
Secretary of the Interior for financial assistance 15
under that section to purchase slip-on tanker 16
units in the preceding year; and 17
(C) any barriers identified by the Secretary 18
of the Interior to the ability of local govern-19
ments and Indian Tribes to participate in the 20
pilot program established under that section. 21
(2) T
IMING.— 22
(A) I
NITIAL REPORT.—The Secretary of 23
the Interior shall submit the first report re-24
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quired under paragraph (1) not later than Oc-1
tober 1, 2026. 2
(B) S
UNSET.—The requirements of this 3
subsection shall expire on October 1, 2028. 4
(c) I
NTEGRATIONINTOWILDFIRERESPONSE.—The 5
Secretaries, in coordination with recipients of financial as-6
sistance for slip-on tanker units provided under section 7
40803(c)(5) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs 8
Act (16 U.S.C. 6592(c)(5)), shall— 9
(1) in coordination with the Administrator of 10
the U.S. Fire Administration, promulgate guidance 11
for the mobilization of slip-on tanker units for wild-12
fire response; 13
(2) as practicable, incorporate mobilized slip-on 14
tanker units into resource tracking systems; and 15
(3) collaborate with the Administrator of the 16
U.S. Fire Administration regarding any necessary 17
training for operators of slip-on tanker units. 18
SEC. 203. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF UNMANNED 19
AIRCRAFT SYSTEM FIRE APPLICATIONS. 20
(a) D
EFINITION OF UNMANNED AIRCRAFTSYS-21
TEM.—In this section, the term ‘‘unmanned aircraft sys-22
tem’’ means an unmanned aircraft and associated ele-23
ments (including, if applicable, communication links and 24
the components that control the unmanned aircraft) that 25
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are required for the operator to operate safely and effi-1
ciently. 2
(b) R
ESEARCH.—The Secretaries shall, acting 3
through the Joint Fire Science Program, work with uni-4
versities and other research institutions to carry out re-5
search and development on the wildfire response applica-6
tions of unmanned aircraft systems. 7
(c) T
ESTING.—The Secretaries may coordinate with 8
the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration 9
to test an unmanned aircraft system developed under this 10
section at an unmanned aircraft test range in accordance 11
with section 44803 of title 49, United States Code. 12
(d) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 13
are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretaries such 14
sums as are necessary to carry out this section. 15
SEC. 204. STUDY ON DRONE INCURSIONS ON WILDFIRE 16
SUPPRESSION. 17
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 18
(1) A
DMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-19
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal 20
Aviation Administration. 21
(2) D
RONE.—The term ‘‘drone’’ means an un-22
manned aircraft system owned by a private indi-23
vidual or entity. 24
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(3) DRONE INCURSION.—The term ‘‘drone in-1
cursion’’ means the operation of a drone within any 2
airspace for which the Administrator has issued a 3
temporary flight restriction because of a wildfire. 4
(b) S
TUDYREQUIRED.—The Administrator, in con-5
sultation with the Secretary of the Interior and the Sec-6
retary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the For-7
est Service, shall conduct a study on the effects of drone 8
incursions on wildfire suppression with respect to land 9
managed by the Department of the Interior or the Depart-10
ment of Agriculture. 11
(c) S
TUDYCONTENTS.—In conducting the study re-12
quired under subsection (b), the Administrator shall— 13
(1) determine, for each of the 5 most recent 14
calendar years— 15
(A) the number of occurrences in which a 16
drone incursion interfered with wildfire suppres-17
sion; and 18
(B) the estimated effect of each occurrence 19
described in subparagraph (A) on— 20
(i) the length of time required to 21
achieve complete suppression; 22
(ii) any associated delay in the field-23
ing of aerial firefighting response units; 24
and 25
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(iii) the amounts expended by the 1
Federal Government; and 2
(2) evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of 3
various actions to prevent drone incursions, includ-4
ing— 5
(A) the use of counter-drone radio towers; 6
(B) the use of reasonable force to disable, 7
damage, or destroy a drone; 8
(C) the seizure of a drone, including sei-9
zure with a net device; and 10
(D) the dissemination of educational mate-11
rials relating to the effects of drone incursions 12
on wildfire suppression. 13
(d) R
EPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the 14
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall sub-15
mit to the congressional committees, the Committee on 16
Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, 17
and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 18
of the House of Representatives a report describing— 19
(1) the findings of the study required under 20
subsection (b); and 21
(2) any recommendations relating to those find-22
ings. 23
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SEC. 205. STUDY ON MODERNIZING WILDFIRE RESPONSE 1
TECHNOLOGIES. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretaries shall conduct a 3
study on— 4
(1) necessary improvements to radio commu-5
nications systems and infrastructure during wildland 6
fire or prescribed fire operations, including— 7
(A) an assessment of the quality and reli-8
ability of existing radio infrastructure; 9
(B) for any instance in which existing 10
radio communications infrastructure has failed, 11
an assessment of the impacts on forest manage-12
ment or wildfire response activities; 13
(C) a comparison of existing options to im-14
prove on-the-ground communications; and 15
(D) a cost analysis and estimated timeline 16
to install the most feasible option identified 17
under subparagraph (C); 18
(2) real-time or near-real-time situational 19
awareness tools for operational firefighters, includ-20
ing— 21
(A) standards and requirements for such 22
tools to ensure interoperability between Federal 23
firefighting entities and applicable State, local, 24
Tribal, or other partners; 25
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(B) any requirements for additional remote 1
sensing and mapping capabilities to fully lever-2
age such situational awareness tools; and 3
(C) a cost comparison between commer-4
cially available systems and internally developed 5
systems; and 6
(3) wildland fire predictive modeling, includ-7
ing— 8
(A) an analysis of the data required to re-9
duce predictive error for existing or developing 10
models; 11
(B) an analysis of computing needs to 12
more swiftly or accurately model wildland fire 13
using existing or developing models; 14
(C) the feasibility of using artificial intel-15
ligence for wildland fire modeling; and 16
(D) existing or developing wildland fire 17
predictive models that could assist with estab-18
lishing safe conditions for igniting a prescribed 19
fire. 20
(b) S
UBMISSION AND PUBLICAVAILABILITY.—Not 21
later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, 22
the Secretaries shall submit to the congressional commit-23
tees and make publicly available the results of the study 24
conducted under subsection (a). 25
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TITLE III—POST-FIRE RECOVERY 1
SUPPORT 2
SEC. 301. FUNDING FOR ONLINE GUIDES FOR POST-DIS-3
ASTER ASSISTANCE. 4
(a) U
SE OFSERVICES OFOTHERAGENCIES.—Sec-5
tion 201(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 6
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5131(a)) is amend-7
ed— 8
(1) in paragraph (7), by striking the period at 9
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 10
(2) by adding at the end the following: 11
‘‘(8) post-disaster assistance.’’. 12
(b) F
UNDING FOR ONLINEGUIDES FORASSIST-13
ANCE.—Section 201 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 14
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5131) 15
is amended by adding at the end the following: 16
‘‘(e) F
UNDING FOR ONLINEGUIDES FORASSIST-17
ANCE.— 18
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Administrator of the 19
Federal Emergency Management Agency may enter 20
into cooperative agreements to provide funding or 21
technical assistance to a State agency designated or 22
established under subsection (c) to establish, update, 23
or operate a website to provide information relating 24
to post-disaster recovery funding and resources to a 25
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community or an individual impacted by a major 1
disaster or emergency. 2
‘‘(2) M
ANAGEMENT.—A website established, up-3
dated, or operated under this subsection shall be— 4
‘‘(A) managed by the State agency; and 5
‘‘(B) suitable for the residents of the State 6
of the State agency. 7
‘‘(3) C
ONTENT.—The Administrator may pro-8
vide funding to a State agency under this subsection 9
to establish, update, or operate a website that pro-10
vides only 1 or more of the following: 11
‘‘(A) A list of Federal, State, and local 12
sources of post-disaster recovery funding or as-13
sistance that may be available to a community 14
after a disaster or emergency. 15
‘‘(B) A list of Federal, State, and local 16
sources of post-disaster recovery funding or as-17
sistance that may be available to an individual 18
impacted by a major disaster or emergency. 19
‘‘(C) A technical guide that lists and ex-20
plains the costs and benefits of alternatives 21
available to a community to mitigate the im-22
pacts of a major disaster or emergency and pre-23
pare for sequential hazards, such as flooding 24
after a wildfire. 25
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‘‘(4) COOPERATION.—A State agency that re-1
ceives funding or technical assistance to establish, 2
update, or operate a website under this subsection 3
shall cooperate with the Secretary of the Interior, 4
the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Hous-5
ing and Urban Development, the Administrator of 6
the Small Business Administration, and the Admin-7
istrator of the Federal Emergency Management 8
Agency in establishing, updating, or operating the 9
website under this subsection. 10
‘‘(5) U
PDATES.—A State agency that receives 11
funding to establish, update, or operate a website 12
under this subsection shall update the website not 13
less frequently than once every 180 days.’’. 14
SEC. 302. POST-FIRE MANAGEMENT AND RECOVERY. 15
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 16
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary concerned 17
shall establish 1 or more permanent Burned Area Emer-18
gency Response Teams (referred to in this section as a 19
‘‘BAER Team’’) to coordinate immediate post-wildfire 20
emergency stabilization and erosion planning efforts. 21
(b) R
EQUIREMENTS.—A BAER Team shall— 22
(1) survey the landscape affected by a wildfire 23
to determine burn severity; 24
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(2) identify and remove, as necessary, dead or 1
dying trees that may pose an immediate hazard to 2
individuals, communities, or critical infrastructure; 3
(3) stabilize or remove hazardous materials re-4
sulting from a wildfire that may pose an immediate 5
hazard to individuals, communities, or the environ-6
ment; 7
(4) conduct emergency landscape stabilization 8
and erosion prevention work, prioritizing efforts that 9
ensure public safety; 10
(5) prevent the proliferation and spread of 11
invasive species; 12
(6) assist with informing the public of hazards 13
resulting from a wildfire; 14
(7) collaborate, as necessary, with activities 15
under section 303; and 16
(8) conduct such other work as the Secretary 17
concerned determines to be necessary. 18
(c) D
URATION.—To the maximum extent practicable, 19
a BAER Team shall coordinate and respond to immediate 20
post-wildfire emergency stabilization and erosion planning 21
needs for a period of not more than 1 year after the date 22
of containment of a wildfire. 23
(d) F
UNDING.—The Secretary concerned may use to 24
carry out this section funds made available by section 25
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40803(c)(16) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs 1
Act (16 U.S.C. 6592(c)(16)). 2
SEC. 303. LONG-TERM BURNED AREA REHABILITATION AC-3
COUNT. 4
(a) E
STABLISHMENT OF ACCOUNT.—There is estab-5
lished in the Treasury of the United States the Long- 6
Term Burned Area Rehabilitation account for the Depart-7
ment of Agriculture. 8
(b) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 9
are authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2025 and 10
each fiscal year thereafter for the account established by 11
subsection (a) such sums as are necessary to carry out 12
the activities described in subsection (d), not to exceed 13
$100,000,000. 14
(c) P
RESIDENTIALBUDGETREQUESTS.—For fiscal 15
year 2026 and each fiscal year thereafter, the Secretary 16
of Agriculture shall submit through the budget request of 17
the President and in accordance with subsection (b), a re-18
quest for amounts in the National Forest System appro-19
priation account to carry out the activities described in 20
subsection (d). 21
(d) A
UTHORIZEDACTIVITIES.—The Secretary of Ag-22
riculture shall use amounts in the account established by 23
subsection (a) for rehabilitation projects located at sites 24
impacted by a wildfire or post-wildfire flooding primarily 25
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on Federal land, but may include areas on non-Federal 1
land, that— 2
(1) restore the functions of an ecosystem, in-3
cluding— 4
(A) identifying areas where natural regen-5
eration is unlikely to occur; 6
(B) revegetation and reforestation, includ-7
ing coordinating any necessary site preparation, 8
salvage harvesting, and replanting; 9
(C) watershed restoration; 10
(D) invasive species mitigation and re-11
moval; and 12
(E) wildlife habitat restoration; or 13
(2) repair or replace infrastructure or facilities 14
critical for land management activities. 15
(e) D
URATION OF ACTIVITIES.—A rehabilitation 16
project under subsection (d) shall— 17
(1) begin not earlier than the date on which the 18
wildfire was contained; and 19
(2) be completed not later than 5 years after 20
the date on which the wildfire was contained. 21
(f) A
GREEMENTAUTHORITY.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture 23
may enter to agreements with non-Federal entities 24
to carry out activities described in subsection (d). 25
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(2) COST SHARE.—The non-Federal share of 1
the costs of implementing activities under an agree-2
ment entered into under paragraph (1)— 3
(A) shall be not more than 20 percent; and 4
(B) may include in-kind contributions. 5
(3) S
AVINGS PROVISION.—Nothing in this sub-6
section— 7
(A) requires the Secretary of Agriculture 8
to enter into agreements with non-Federal enti-9
ties to carry out activities described in sub-10
section (d); or 11
(B) limits the effect of the prioritization 12
requirements under subsection (g). 13
(g) P
RIORITIZATION OFFUNDING.—The Secretary of 14
Agriculture shall prioritize, on a nationwide basis, projects 15
for which funding requests are submitted under this sec-16
tion based on downstream effects on water resources. 17
(h) R
EPORTING.—Beginning in fiscal year 2027, and 18
each fiscal year thereafter, the Secretary of Agriculture 19
shall annually submit to Congress a report on the burned 20
area recovery work performed using— 21
(1) amounts from the account established by 22
subsection (a); 23
(2) amounts made available under the Act of 24
June 9, 1930 (16 U.S.C. 576 et seq.); and 25
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(3) amounts from the Reforestation Trust Fund 1
established by section 303(a) of Public Law 96–451 2
(16 U.S.C. 1606a(a)). 3
SEC. 304. PRIZE FOR WILDFIRE-RELATED INVASIVE SPE-4
CIES REDUCTION. 5
Section 7001(d) of the John D. Dingell, Jr. Con-6
servation, Management, and Recreation Act (16 U.S.C. 7
742b note; Public Law 116–9) is amended— 8
(1) by striking ‘‘paragraph (8)(A)’’ each place 9
it appears and inserting ‘‘paragraph (9)(A)’’; 10
(2) by striking ‘‘paragraph (8)(B)’’ each place 11
it appears and inserting ‘‘paragraph (9)(B)’’; 12
(3) by redesignating paragraph (8) as para-13
graph (9); 14
(4) by inserting after paragraph (7) the fol-15
lowing: 16
‘‘(8) T
HEODORE ROOSEVELT GENIUS PRIZE 17
FOR MANAGEMENT OF WILDFIRE -RELATED INVASIVE 18
SPECIES.— 19
‘‘(A) D
EFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 20
‘‘(i) B
OARD.—The term ‘Board’ 21
means the Management of Wildfire-Related 22
Invasive Species Technology Advisory 23
Board established by subparagraph (C)(i). 24
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‘‘(ii) PRIZE COMPETITION.—The term 1
‘prize competition’ means the Theodore 2
Roosevelt Genius Prize for the manage-3
ment of wildfire-related invasive species es-4
tablished under subparagraph (B). 5
‘‘(B) A
UTHORITY.—Not later than 180 6
days after the date of enactment of the Western 7
Wildfire Support Act of 2025, the Secretary 8
shall establish under section 24 of the Steven-9
son-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 10
(15 U.S.C. 3719) a prize competition, to be 11
known as the ‘Theodore Roosevelt Genius Prize 12
for the management of wildfire-related invasive 13
species’— 14
‘‘(i) to encourage technological innova-15
tion with the potential to advance the mis-16
sion of the National Invasive Species 17
Council with respect to the management of 18
wildfire-related invasive species; and 19
‘‘(ii) to award 1 or more prizes annu-20
ally for a technological advancement that 21
manages wildfire-related invasive species. 22
‘‘(C) A
DVISORY BOARD.— 23
‘‘(i) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is es-24
tablished an advisory board, to be known 25
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as the ‘Management of Wildfire-Related 1
Invasive Species Technology Advisory 2
Board’. 3
‘‘(ii) C
OMPOSITION.—The Board shall 4
be composed of not fewer than 9 members 5
appointed by the Secretary, who shall pro-6
vide expertise in— 7
‘‘(I) invasive species; 8
‘‘(II) biology; 9
‘‘(III) technology development; 10
‘‘(IV) engineering; 11
‘‘(V) economics; 12
‘‘(VI) business development and 13
management; 14
‘‘(VII) wildfire; and 15
‘‘(VIII) any other discipline, as 16
the Secretary determines to be nec-17
essary to achieve the purposes of this 18
paragraph. 19
‘‘(iii) D
UTIES.—Subject to clause (iv), 20
with respect to the prize competition, the 21
Board shall— 22
‘‘(I) select a topic; 23
‘‘(II) issue a problem statement; 24
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‘‘(III) advise the Secretary re-1
garding any opportunity for techno-2
logical innovation to manage wildfire- 3
related invasive species; and 4
‘‘(IV) advise winners of the prize 5
competition regarding opportunities to 6
pilot and implement winning tech-7
nologies in relevant fields, including in 8
partnership with conservation organi-9
zations, Federal or State agencies, 10
federally recognized Indian Tribes, 11
private entities, and research institu-12
tions with expertise or interest relat-13
ing to the management of wildfire-re-14
lated invasive species. 15
‘‘(iv) C
ONSULTATION.—In selecting a 16
topic and issuing a problem statement for 17
the prize competition, the Board shall con-18
sult widely with Federal and non-Federal 19
stakeholders, including— 20
‘‘(I) 1 or more Federal agencies 21
with jurisdiction over the management 22
of invasive species; 23
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‘‘(II) 1 or more Federal agencies 1
with jurisdiction over the management 2
of wildfire; 3
‘‘(III) 1 or more State agencies 4
with jurisdiction over the management 5
of invasive species; 6
‘‘(IV) 1 or more State agencies 7
with jurisdiction over the management 8
of wildfire; 9
‘‘(V) 1 or more State, regional, 10
or local wildlife organizations, the 11
mission of which relates to the man-12
agement of invasive species; and 13
‘‘(VI) 1 or more wildlife con-14
servation groups, technology compa-15
nies, research institutions, institutions 16
of higher education, industry associa-17
tions, or individual stakeholders with 18
an interest in the management of 19
wildfire-related invasive species. 20
‘‘(v) R
EQUIREMENTS.—The Board 21
shall comply with all requirements under 22
paragraph (9)(A). 23
‘‘(D) A
DMINISTRATION BY THE NATIONAL 24
INVASIVE SPECIES COUNCIL .—The Secretary, 25
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acting through the Executive Director of the 1
National Invasive Species Council, shall admin-2
ister the prize competition and perform the du-3
ties described in paragraph (9)(B)(i). 4
‘‘(E) J
UDGES.— 5
‘‘(i) A
PPOINTMENT.—The Secretary 6
shall appoint not fewer than 3 judges who 7
shall, except as provided in clause (ii), se-8
lect the 1 or more annual winners of the 9
prize competition. 10
‘‘(ii) D
ETERMINATION BY SEC -11
RETARY.—The judges appointed under 12
clause (i) shall not select any annual win-13
ner of the prize competition if the Sec-14
retary makes a determination that, in any 15
fiscal year, none of the technological ad-16
vancements entered into the prize competi-17
tion merits an award. 18
‘‘(F) R
EPORT TO CONGRESS .—Not later 19
than 60 days after the date on which a cash 20
prize is awarded under this paragraph, the Sec-21
retary shall submit to the Committee on Energy 22
and Natural Resources of the Senate and the 23
Committee on Natural Resources of the House 24
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of Representatives a report on the prize com-1
petition that includes— 2
‘‘(i) a statement by the Board that 3
describes the activities carried out by the 4
Board relating to the duties described in 5
subparagraph (C)(iii); 6
‘‘(ii) a description of the 1 or more 7
annual winners of the prize competition; 8
and 9
‘‘(iii) a statement by 1 or more of the 10
judges appointed under subparagraph (E) 11
that explains the basis on which the 1 or 12
more winners of the prize competition was 13
selected. 14
‘‘(G) T
ERMINATION OF AUTHORITY .—The 15
Board and all authority provided under this 16
paragraph shall terminate on December 31, 17
2028.’’; and 18
(5) in paragraph (9) (as so redesignated)— 19
(A) in subparagraph (A), in the matter 20
preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘or (7)(C)(i)’’ 21
and inserting ‘‘(7)(C)(i), or (8)(C)(i)’’; and 22
(B) in subparagraph (C)— 23
(i) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘and the 24
amount of the initial cash prize awarded 25
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for a year under paragraph (8)’’ after 1
‘‘subparagraph (B)(i)(IX)’’; and 2
(ii) by adding at the end the fol-3
lowing: 4
‘‘(iii) A
DDITIONAL WILDFIRE CASH 5
PRIZES.—If the Secretary determines that 6
funds are available for an additional cash 7
prize under the prize competition under 8
paragraph (8) for a year, the Secretary 9
shall determine the amount of the addi-10
tional cash prize.’’. 11
Æ
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