HR3889-119

What This Bill Does

The National Prescribed Fire Act tries to move federal wildfire policy from mainly suppression toward planned burning before fires become catastrophic. Agriculture and Interior could use up to 15 percent of annual hazardous-fuels or wildland-fire money for prescribed-fire contracts, cooperative agreements, state, Tribal, local, council, prescribed-burn association, and nonprofit grants, environmental review, site preparation, surveys, outreach, and burns on non-federal land that benefit federal resources. The Secretaries must increase federal prescribed-fire acreage by 10 percent each year for 10 fiscal years and prepare regional strategies that identify fire deficits plus staffing and funding needs. A Collaborative Prescribed Fire Program would fund projects tied to landscape restoration strategies covering at least 50,000 acres and a 10-year treatment plan. States, Tribes, counties, fire districts, nonprofits, and private entities could enter agreements or contracts for up to 10 years to plan or conduct burns on federal land. Federal fuels employees would receive a pay differential for ignition, management, and control work, and each Geographic Area Coordination Center would have multiparty task forces plus a dedicated federal employee for partnership administration. Covered non-federal entities working under federal supervision would be treated as federal employees for Federal Tort Claims Act purposes, while federal employees get liability training. EPA and land managers must help air-quality agencies with exceptional-event demonstrations, modeling, archives, decision tools, and smoke guidance. The bill also creates a national education program, supports state acreage reporting, cuts off Act funding for states that miss annual database reports, and requires annual reports to Congress.

Who Benefits and How

Forest Service regions benefit from dedicated funding authority, annual acreage targets, landscape-scale planning, and task forces that make prescribed fire easier to schedule across ownership boundaries. Bureau of Land Management districts benefit from the same funding flexibility, cooperative agreements, and regional strategies for reducing wildfire fuel loads. State forestry agencies benefit from grants, technical coordination, and potential financial assistance for reporting prescribed-fire accomplishments. Tribal fire programs benefit because they are eligible for grants, cooperative work, outreach, and cross-boundary task-force participation. Prescribed burn associations benefit because the bill explicitly allows grants and agreements for planning, preparation, and implementation work.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Federal land managers must increase prescribed-fire acreage by 10 percent per year, prepare regional fire-deficit strategies, run a collaborative program, and report annually. EPA smoke staff must support exceptional-event demonstrations, archives, modeling, decision tools, templates, and best-practice guidance for air agencies. State air-quality agencies must evaluate smoke impacts and may need to use new federal data when prescribed-fire activity expands. Adjacent landowners bear smoke, access, and planning burdens when more burns occur near private property. States that fail to report annual prescribed-fire accomplishments to the national database lose eligibility for Act funding for the prior fiscal year.

Key Provisions

• Authorizes Agriculture and Interior to use up to 15 percent of hazardous-fuels or wildland-fire funds for prescribed-fire activities.
• Requires prescribed-fire acreage on federal land to rise by 10 percent each year for 10 fiscal years.
• Creates a Collaborative Prescribed Fire Program for landscape-scale projects of at least 50,000 acres.
• Authorizes long-term cooperative agreements and contracts with states, Tribes, counties, nonprofits, fire districts, and private entities.
• Provides pay differentials, task forces, liability training, and Federal Tort Claims Act treatment for covered prescribed-fire work.
• Directs EPA and land managers to support air-quality agencies with smoke modeling, exceptional-event tools, and technical assistance.
• Requires state reporting to the National Fire Planning and Operations Database and annual implementation reports to Congress.