This bill directs the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture to significantly expand the use of prescribed fire—controlled, intentionally set burns—on federal lands, especially national forests in the western United States, while also recognizing the traditional practice of cultural burning by Native American tribes. It requires federal land managers to increase the total acreage treated with prescribed fire by 10 percent annually for a decade, and it allows agencies to redirect up to 15 percent of their wildfire-fuel-reduction budgets toward planning, staffing, training, and implementing these controlled burns. The legislation creates new grant programs (capped at $20 million per year) to fund collaborative prescribed-fire projects involving states, tribes, local governments, and nonprofit organizations, and it addresses workforce challenges by authorizing hazard pay, easier conversion of seasonal firefighters to permanent staff, and new training centers, including tribal-led facilities. It also tackles liability and regulatory barriers by offering legal protections to certified burn managers and non-federal partners, easing certain Clean Air Act smoke restrictions on large prescribed fires, and studying the feasibility of a national claims fund to cover damages from escaped fires. The bill affects federal agencies, state and tribal governments, private landowners, and firefighting personnel, aiming to reduce catastrophic wildfire risk through more proactive land management, with most provisions taking effect over the next one to ten years and annual progress reports required to Congress.
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