The Fix Our Forests Act would establish a comprehensive federal wildfire management system focused on preventing catastrophic wildfires and improving post-fire recovery across National Forest System lands, Bureau of Land Management public lands, and Tribal lands. The bill would designate the highest-risk 20% of the nation's nearly 9,000 "firesheds" (landscape-scale areas with similar wildfire exposure) as priority management areas within 30 days of enactment, where federal agencies could conduct streamlined forest management activities like hazardous fuel reduction, prescribed burning, and tree thinning without full environmental review requirements. Key provisions include creating a joint Wildland Fire Intelligence Center within one year to coordinate wildfire research and response, expanding prescribed fire programs with liability protections, extending forest management contract terms from 10 to 20 years, and establishing new grant programs for wildfire-resistant building technologies and biochar production from forest waste materials. The legislation would also limit court challenges to forest management projects to 150 days, expand the definition of at-risk communities eligible for federal wildfire assistance, and create a unified disaster assistance application system to help wildfire survivors access multiple federal aid programs more easily.
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