When the U.S. Forest Service conducts land management activities — like prescribed burns or timber operations on National Forest land — and those activities accidentally cause a wildfire, affected communities and landowners are currently required to cover a share of the cost of recovery. The Responsible Wildland Fire Recovery Act would allow the Secretary of Agriculture to waive that cost-sharing requirement for people, tribes, local governments, and states harmed by fires that the government caused through its own management actions. This means affected parties could receive 100 percent federal funding for cleanup, restoration, and other recovery projects, rather than having to contribute matching funds they may not have.
Congressional Summary
This bill authorizes the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to waive certain requirements for matching federal funds in fire recovery projects. Specifically, USDA may waive cost-sharing requirements for projects responding to fires resulting from management activities (e.g., controlled burns) conducted by USDA on National Forest System land.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2025-11-07
- Date Added
- 2026-04-10
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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