The Promoting Effective Forest Management Act of 2024 directs the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to significantly increase forest thinning, prescribed burns, and other wildfire-prevention treatments on federal lands, with acreage targets rising over time and reaching 40 percent above historical averages by 2029. It requires detailed annual public reporting on treatment acreage, wildfire risk reduction, and forest carbon balance, while mandating more accurate and standardized data tracking methods. The bill also streamlines environmental reviews for hazard tree removal and utility rights-of-way vegetation management, raises the threshold for timber sales requiring competitive bidding, and grants local governments and tribes the right to intervene in lawsuits over approved forest management projects. For the wildland firefighting workforce, it creates direct-hire authority for Job Corps graduates, protects retirement benefits during short service breaks, and improves firefighter housing conditions and affordability. Finally, it establishes a seven-year public-private partnership to test new wildfire technologies and encourages greater use of livestock grazing as a wildfire mitigation tool, with most provisions phasing in through 2025 and beyond.
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