Press Releases
Reps. Peters and Westerman Reintroduce Landmark Fire Prevention and Protection Bill, The Fix Our Forests Act
January 16, 2025
House to vote on the measure next week
Washington, D.C. — Today, Representative Scott Peters (D-CA-50) and Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR-4) reintroduced their landmark Fix Our Forests Act (FOFA) to combat the country's wildfire crisis. Their comprehensive legislation will help reduce the intensity of catastrophic wildfires, restore forest health, and build fire-safety defenses for communities in high-risk areas.
"It is hard to describe the pain Californians feel over the loss suffered in Los Angeles," said Rep. Scott Peters. "I am thinking constantly about the victims of this tragedy, as well as the first responders and military personnel working to quell the flames and keep order. The destruction and devastation in LA is a reminder of the incalculable human toll of these fires. While we can't stop every fire, smart changes to policy will help prevent fires, limit their spread, and make them less destructive. Our bill will help us protect where nature meets homes, pre-position firetrucks and other resources in high-risk areas, and build homes more resistant to fire. I remember the terror San Diegans felt in 2003, 2007, and 2011 when we had our own wildfire catastrophes. It is with the memory of those victims in mind, too, that I again introduced Fix Our Forests."
"As tragic wildfires rage in Los Angeles, we're working in Washington to help prevent these types of catastrophes in the future with the Fix Our Forests Act," said Chairman Westerman. "It's time to take an all-hands-on-deck approach and use proven science to restore our forests to a healthy state and protect communities in the wildland-urban interface from wildfires. This legislation will leave our nation's forests more resilient and ensure they can be responsibly enjoyed and managed for generations to come."
A century of suppressing all natural fires, which led to excessive and unnatural growth, decades of mismanagement of federal lands due to outdated laws, and rising temperatures have created a perfect storm of federal lands susceptible to drought and wildfires. In California, the nine largest wildfires on record and three of the top five deadliest fires have occurred during the last decade. In 2020, California wildfires contributed more to climate change than the state's entire power sector. Now, catastrophic fire is the single largest source of particulate pollution in the United States, posing a significant threat to watersheds and ecosystems. The cost of further inaction is untenable.
There is scientific consensus on the solution: active and science-based forest management, interagency and state-federal-tribal collaboration, and continued Research & Development on next-generation technologies and solutions. The problem: Forest management projects, like clearing dead trees and dry vegetation that fuel fires, often require multiyear environmental reviews. While we wait for analysis, the forest burns down, adds pollution to the air, contributes to climate change, and threatens communities.
The Fix Our Forests Act will:
- Simplify and expedite environmental reviews to reduce costs and planning times for critical forest management projects while maintaining rigorous environmental standards.
- Create an interagency Fireshed Center to help states, local governments, and communities. The Center will:
- Assess and help predict fire in high-risk areas near communities through data integration;
- Help pre-position wildfire suppression assets based on real-time risk;
- Support post-fire recovery activities, including ecosystem recovery and
- Provide publicly accessible data, models, technologies, assessments, and fire weather forecasts.
- Create a new Community Wildfire Risk Reduction Program and Community Wildfire Defense Research Program, which will help communities and tribes in high-risk areas by investing in innovative fire detection and suppressant technologies and modernizing construction standards and building codes;
- Provide a holistic framework – which does not exist today – for local communities to participate early and often in project planning and implementation; and
- Give fire departments clarity about when and how much they will be reimbursed for wildfire costs.
The Fix Our Forests Act is cosponsored by Representatives: Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-19), George Whitesides (D-CA-27), Gabe Vasquez (D-NM-2), Jim Costa (D-CA-21), Josh Harder (D-CA-9), Ami Bera (D-CA-6), John Garamendi (D-CA-8), Mike Thompson (D-CA-4), Lou Correa (D-CA-46), Jared Golden (D-ME-2), Kevin Mullin (D-CA-15), Susie Lee (D-NV-3), Adam Gray (D-CA-13), Steny Hoyer (D-MD-5), Brittany Pettersen (D-CO-7), Nick Begich (R-AK-AL), Mike Collins (R-GA-10), Mike Ezell (R-MS-4), Dusty Johnson (R-SD-AL), John Joyce (R-PA-13), Jen Kiggans (R-VA-2), Young Kim (R-CA-40), Celeste Maloy (R-UT-2), Jay Obernolte (R-CA-23), Pete Stauber (R-MN-8), Ryan Zinke (R-MT-1).
The Fix Our Forests Act is supported by: The National Congress of American Indian, Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, the Western Fire Chiefs Association, the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, the National Association of Counties, the Federation of American Scientists, the California State Association of Counties, the Association of California Water Agencies, American Forests, the National Special Districts Coalition (NSDC), Citizens Climate Lobby, MegaFire Action, the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, the Evangelical Environmental Network, the Edison Electric Institute, PG&E, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Tall Timbers, Xcel Energy, Placer County Water Agency, Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition (RVCC).
A one-pager on the bill can be found here.
An FAQ on the bill can be found here.
Rep. Peters and Chair Westerman also co-authored the Save Our Sequoias Act, a bill to give land managers the tools and funding to save California's iconic giant sequoias.
Additional information:
FOFA would support more effective and responsible forest management backed by science. Experts have found that fires were significantly less severe in areas where larger-scale projects were implemented. It would not amend any underlying environmental laws, ensuring that strong protections are left in place.
Community engagement is critical to a national wildfire strategy. This bill encourages communities to participate early and often in the process instead of engaging at the tail end when their voices are less likely to be heard. Fireshed assessments pursuant to this legislation are done with the collaboration of local communities and tribes through shared stewardship agreements and technical and financial assistance are made available to help communities build resilience and strengthen their wildland-urban interface. This is a comprehensive framework for engaging communities that does not exist today.
- Over the past decade, 80% of projects challenged under the National Environmental Policy Act were won on appeal by the government and moved forward without any changes to the review.
- Just 10 groups filed 67% of the challenges to forest management projects, winning less than a quarter of cases. These lawsuits delayed projects an average of nearly four years for the 77% of lawsuits they lost.
- These lawsuits do not change the agency's decision, the implementation of the project, or the effect of the project on the community. They simply delay projects to starve them of resources and investment until it becomes infeasible.
###