II 

Calendar No. 624 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4424 

To direct the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture 

to encourage and expand the use of prescribed fire on land managed 

by the Department of the Interior or the Forest Service, with an emphasis on units of the National Forest System in the western United States, 

to acknowledge and support the long-standing use of cultural burning 

by Tribes and Indigenous practitioners, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 23, 2024 

Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. PADILLA) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

NOVEMBER 21, 2024 

Reported by Mr. MANCHIN, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary 

of Agriculture to encourage and expand the use of prescribed fire on land managed by the Department of the 

Interior or the Forest Service, with an emphasis on 

units of the National Forest System in the western 

United States, to acknowledge and support the longstanding use of cultural burning by Tribes and Indigenous practitioners, and for other purposes. 


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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘National Prescribed Fire Act of 2024’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Findings. 

Sec. 3. Definitions. 

TITLE I—USE OF FUNDS 

Sec. 101. Prescribed fire accounts. 

Sec. 102. Policies and practices. 

Sec. 103. Collaborative prescribed fire program. 

TITLE II—FACILITATING IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTREACH 

Sec. 201. Cooperative agreements and contracts. 

Sec. 202. Human resources. 

Sec. 203. Liability of certified prescribed fire managers. 

Sec. 204. Prescribed fire claims fund study. 

Sec. 205. Environmental review. 

Sec. 206. Prescribed fire education program. 

TITLE III—REPORTING 

Sec. 301. Annual reports to the National Fire Planning and Operations Database. 

Sec. 302. Annual implementation report. 

8 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

9 Congress finds that— 

10 (1) in 2018, the Forest Service Fire Modeling 

11 Institute determined that 63,070,000 acres of Na12 tional Forest System land and 171,200,000 acres of 

13 other forest land were at high or very high risk of 

14 experiencing a wildfire that would be difficult to sup15 press; 


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1 (2) according to the National Interagency Co2 ordination Center, between 2010 and 2019, in the 

3 United States, on average— 

4 (A) 64,000 wildfires burned 6,847,000 

5 acres annually; and 

6 (B) 100,000 prescribed fires burned only 

7 3,672,000 acres annually; 

8 (3) indigenous communities have used cultural 

9 burning to manage landscapes since time immemo10 rial; 

11 (4) according to the National Interagency Co12 ordination Center, the annual cost of suppressing 

13 wildfires in a State with an active prescribed burn14 ing program is less than 1 percent of the annual 

15 cost of suppressing wildfires in a State without an 

16 active prescribed burning program, despite each 

17 State having the same number of wildfires; 

18 (5) according to a 2021 Environmental Protec19 tion Agency report assessing the air quality and 

20 health impacts of prescribed fire compared to wild21 fire, smoke impacts from prescribed fire were found 

22 to be smaller in magnitude and shorter in duration; 

23 (6) according to a 2019 study conducted by 

24 Stanford University, smoke from prescribed fires exVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:40 Nov 22, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S4424.RS S4424

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1 poses children to fewer negative health effects than 

2 the detrimental smoke generated by wildfires; 

3 (7) according to a 2015 study published in 

4 Ecology, trees that have not been burnt by a low-in5 tensity fire are unusually prone to bark beetle at6 tacks, and between 2000 and 2010, bark beetles 

7 killed the majority of trees on 32,000,000 acres of 

8 the 193,000,000 acres of National Forest System 

9 land; 

10 (8) as of March 1, 2023, there were— 

11 (A) 38 prescribed fire councils in 34 

12 States; and 

13 (B) 113 prescribed burn associations in 19 

14 States; 

15 (9) according to the 2021 National Prescribed 

16 Fire Use Survey Report— 

17 (A) 41 States regulate prescribed fires by 

18 issuing burn permits; 

19 (B) 23 States offer prescribed burn man20 ager certification courses to facilitate respon21 sible burning on private land; 

22 (C) only 5 States (Vermont, Massachu23 setts, Missouri, Connecticut, and Rhode Island) 

24 lack laws to reduce liability associated with the 

25 responsible use of prescribed fire; and 


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1 (D) only 8 States (Florida, Montana, Ne2 vada, Colorado, Michigan, Georgia, South Caro3 lina, and Washington) have laws that use a 

4 standard of gross negligence for determining li5 abilities for the responsible use of prescribed 

6 fire; and 

7 (10) as of September 30, 2019, 31 States have 

8 a formal process to track the number of acres treat9 ed for forestry purposes using prescribed fire. 

10 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

11 In this Act: 

12 (1) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 

13 means— 

14 (A) public lands (as defined in section 103 

15 of the Federal Land Policy and Management 

16 Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702)); 

17 (B) units of the National Park System; 

18 (C) units of the National Wildlife Refuge 

19 System; 

20 (D) land held in trust by the United States 

21 for the benefit of Indian Tribes or members of 

22 an Indian Tribe; and 

23 (E) National Forest System land. 

24 (2) LANDSCAPE-SCALE PRESCRIBED FIRE

25 PLAN.—The term ‘‘landscape-scale prescribed fire 


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1 plan’’ means a decision document prepared pursuant 

2 to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 

3 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) that— 

4 (A) covers a unit of the National Forest 

5 System, a Bureau of Land Management dis6 trict, or a subunit thereof; 

7 (B) analyzes the site-specific environmental 

8 consequences of prescribed fire on the land de9 scribed in subparagraph (A); and 

10 (C) obviates the need for subsequent deci11 sions pursuant to the National Environmental 

12 Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) 

13 with respect to the unit, district, or subunit de14 scribed in subparagraph (A). 

15 (3) NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘National 

17 Forest System’’ has the meaning given the term 

18 in section 11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland 

19 Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 

20 U.S.C. 1609(a)). 

21 (B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘‘National 

22 Forest System’’ does not include the national 

23 grasslands and land utilization projects admin24 istered under title III of the Bankhead-Jones 

25 Farm Tenant Act (7 U.S.C. 1010 et seq.). 


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1 (4) PRESCRIBED FIRE.—The term ‘‘prescribed 

2 fire’’ means a fire deliberately ignited to burn 

3 wildland fuels in a natural or modified state— 

4 (A) under specified environmental condi5 tions that are intended to allow the fire to be 

6 confined to a predetermined area and produce 

7 the fireline intensity and rate of spread re8 quired to attain planned resource management 

9 objectives; 

10 (B) that does not include pile burning; and 

11 (C) in accordance with applicable law, in12 cluding applicable regulations. 

13 (5) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 

14 means— 

15 (A) the Secretary; and 

16 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture. 

17 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

18 the Secretary of the Interior. 

19 TITLE I—USE OF FUNDS 

20 SEC. 101. PRESCRIBED FIRE ACCOUNTS. 

21 (a) DEFINITION OF SECRETARY CONCERNED.—In 

22 this section, the term ‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means— 

23 (1) the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to 

24 an account established by this section for the De25 partment of Agriculture; and 


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1 (2) the Secretary, with respect to an account 

2 established by this section for the Department of the 

3 Interior. 

4 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF ACCOUNTS.—There are es5 tablished in the Treasury of the United States the fol6 lowing accounts: 

7 (1) The Prescribed Fire account for the De8 partment of Agriculture. 

9 (2) The Prescribed Fire account for the De10 partment of the Interior. 

11 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

12 authorized to be appropriated to the accounts established 

13 by subsection (b) a total of $300,000,000 for fiscal year 

14 2024 and each fiscal year thereafter. 

15 (d) PRESIDENTIAL BUDGET REQUESTS.—For fiscal 

16 year 2024 and each fiscal year thereafter, each Secretary 

17 concerned shall submit, in the budget justification mate18 rials submitted to Congress in support of the budget of 

19 the relevant Department for each fiscal year (as submitted 

20 with the budget of the President under section 1105(a) 

21 of title 31, United States Code)— 

22 (1) a request for amounts in the Wildland Fire 

23 Management appropriation account of the Secretary 

24 concerned to carry out the activities described in 

25 subsection (e); and 


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1 (2) an accounting of costs with respect to pre2 scribed fire, by region of the National Forest System 

3 or the Department of the Interior, as applicable, for 

4 the previous 3 years, including— 

5 (A) the amount spent on prescribed fire; 

6 (B) the number of acres treated with pre7 scribed fire; and 

8 (C) the number of personnel dedicated to 

9 carrying out prescribed fire. 

10 (e) USE OF FUNDS.— 

11 (1) MANDATORY ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary 

12 concerned shall use amounts in the accounts estab13 lished by subsection (b)— 

14 (A) to develop, in coordination with State, 

15 local, and Tribal governments, a prescribed fire 

16 operational strategy for each region of the Na17 tional Forest System or the Department of the 

18 Interior, as applicable, specifically for using 

19 funding provided through the Infrastructure In20 vestment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117–58; 

21 135 Stat. 429) and other additional sources of 

22 funding, that describes— 

23 (i) the fire deficit by region; 

24 (ii) staffing and funding needs; 


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1 (iii) plans to apply prescribed fire; 

2 and 

3 (iv) regional targets to demonstrate 

4 an increase in prescribed fire with respect 

5 to— 

6 (I) existing programs; and 

7 (II) activities carried out using 

8 additional funding sources; 

9 (B) with respect to prescribed fires— 

10 (i) to carry out necessary environ11 mental reviews; 

12 (ii) to conduct outreach to the public, 

13 Indian Tribes and beneficiaries, and adja14 cent landowners; 

15 (iii) to conduct any required pre-igni16 tion cultural and environmental surveys; 

17 and 

18 (iv) to implement prescribed fires on 

19 Federal land; 

20 (C) to hire additional, dedicated personnel 

21 and procure additional equipment, including un22 manned aerial systems equipped with an aerial 

23 ignition system, to implement a greater number 

24 of prescribed fires; 


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1 (D) to fund an increase in staffing (includ2 ing in-person and hybrid staff) in order to pro3 vide training for the implementation of pre4 scribed fire and management of smoke; 

5 (E) to conduct post-prescribed fire activi6 ties, such as— 

7 (i) reseeding to prevent the spread of 

8 invasive species; and 

9 (ii) recurring application of fire to 

10 maintain desired conditions; 

11 (F) to conduct monitoring for safety and 

12 fire effects on ecosystem resilience and risk 

13 mitigation; and 

14 (G) to use key performance indicators, in15 cluding— 

16 (i) the annual number of acres of Na17 tional Forest System land or public lands, 

18 as applicable, where completed treatment 

19 effectively mitigates wildfire risk or main20 tains or restores ecological integrity with 

21 respect to— 

22 (I) land in the wildland-urban 

23 interface; and 

24 (II) land not in the wildland25 urban interface; 


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1 (ii) the number of acres in a desired 

2 condition as a result of fire management 

3 objectives, as determined by the Secretary 

4 concerned; 

5 (iii) the number of acres treated with 

6 prescribed fire and the quantity of emis7 sions from prescribed fires; 

8 (iv) the number of acres where treat9 ment results in changes in fire regime con10 dition class; and 

11 (v) the number of burns conducted by 

12 Indian Tribes or Indigenous-led organiza13 tions or pursuant to an agreement with an 

14 Indian Tribe or Indigenous-led organiza15 tion. 

16 (2) JOINT COORDINATION.—The Secretaries 

17 shall coordinate to jointly develop a common data 

18 management and analysis system for planning and 

19 post-treatment accountability. 

20 (3) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary 

21 concerned may— 

22 (A) assist State, Tribal, local government, 

23 or private prescribed fire programs— 

24 (i) to establish a training or certifi25 cation program for teams comprised of 


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1 citizens or local fire services to conduct 

2 prescribed fires on private land, consistent 

3 with any standards developed by the Na4 tional Wildfire Coordinating Group or 

5 State prescribed fire standards; 

6 (ii) to enable additional fire managers 

7 and apparatus, whether provided by the 

8 local resources of an agency, private con9 tractors, nongovernmental organizations, 

10 Indian Tribes, local fire services, or quali11 fied individuals, to assist in implementing 

12 a prescribed fire; 

13 (iii) in funding the completion of the 

14 claims funds study under section 204; or 

15 (iv) to finance the implementation of 

16 a prescribed fire on State, Tribal, or pri17 vate land and any post-prescribed fire ac18 tivities as are determined to be necessary 

19 by the Secretary concerned; 

20 (B) provide technical or financial assist21 ance to a prescribed fire council or prescribed 

22 burn association for the establishment or oper23 ation of the council or association; and 


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1 (C) provide funding for the collaborative 

2 prescribed fire program established under sec3 tion 103. 

4 (f) PRIORITIZATION OF FUNDING.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

6 the Secretary concerned shall coordinate with Fed7 eral, State, and local agencies, Indian Tribes, and 

8 nongovernmental organizations, including through 

9 the Wildland Fire Leadership Council, to establish 

10 prioritization criteria for expending funds under this 

11 section for each activity described in subsection (e). 

12 (2) REQUIREMENT.—In establishing criteria 

13 under paragraph (1), the Secretary concerned shall 

14 give priority to a project that is— 

15 (A) implemented across a large contiguous 

16 area; 

17 (B) cross-boundary in nature; 

18 (C) in an area that is— 

19 (i) threatening to, or located in, the 

20 wildland-urban interface and identified as 

21 a priority area in a statewide forest re22 source assessment or Community Wildfire 

23 Protection Plan; or 


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1 (ii) identified as important to the pro2 tection of a Tribal trust resource or the re3 served or treaty rights of an Indian Tribe; 

4 (D) on acres at high or very high risk of 

5 experiencing a wildfire that would be difficult to 

6 suppress; 

7 (E) in an area that is designated as critical 

8 habitat and in need of ecological restoration or 

9 enhancement that can be achieved with the aid 

10 of prescribed fire; or 

11 (F) supportive of potential operational de12 lineations or a strategic response zone. 

13 SEC. 102. POLICIES AND PRACTICES. 

14 Beginning with the first fiscal year that begins after 

15 the date of enactment of this Act, and for each of the 

16 9 fiscal years thereafter, the Secretaries shall conduct pre17 scribed fires on Federal land such that the total number 

18 and combined size of all prescribed fires on Federal land 

19 is 10 percent greater than the total number and combined 

20 size of all prescribed fires on Federal land in the preceding 

21 fiscal year. 

22 SEC. 103. COLLABORATIVE PRESCRIBED FIRE PROGRAM. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 

24 within the Department of the Interior a collaborative pre25 scribed fire program (referred to in this section as the 


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1 ‘‘program’’) to provide financial assistance to eligible enti2 ties, including units of Federal land management agencies 

3 within the Department of Agriculture and the Department 

4 of the Interior, Indian Tribes, State or local governments, 

5 nongovernmental organizations, and prescribed fire coun6 cils, for the implementation of proposals to conduct pre7 scribed fires in priority landscapes in accordance with ap8 plicable existing policies. 

9 (b) PROPOSAL CRITERIA.—To be eligible for selection 

10 for the program, a proposal shall— 

11 (1) identify and prioritize planned prescribed 

12 fires for a 6-year period within a landscape; 

13 (2) establish annual accomplishment targets for 

14 prescribed fires under the proposal; 

15 (3) be developed through a collaborative proc16 ess; 

17 (4) be implemented across multiple jurisdic18 tions; 

19 (5) provide an estimate of— 

20 (A) the amount of annual Federal financial 

21 assistance necessary to implement the proposal; 

22 and 

23 (B) the amount of non-Federal funds that 

24 would be leveraged to implement the proposal; 


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1 (6) describe benefits to sensitive wildlife, inver2 tebrate, and plant species of concern; and 

3 (7) describe any established record of successful 

4 collaborative planning or use of prescribed fire by 

5 the entity submitting the proposal. 

6 (c) SELECTION CRITERIA.—Subject to the avail7 ability of appropriations, the Secretary shall select pro8 posals for financial assistance under the program that, as 

9 determined by the Secretary, would likely treat the most 

10 strategic acres at high or very high risk of experiencing 

11 a wildfire that would threaten critical values and be dif12 ficult to suppress. 

13 (d) LIMITATIONS.— 

14 (1) NUMBER OF PROJECTS.—The Secretary 

15 may not provide more than $20,000,000 in total 

16 funding under the program in any fiscal year. 

17 (2) PROJECT FUNDING.—The Secretary may 

18 not provide more than $1,000,000 to any 1 project 

19 under the program in any fiscal year. 

20 (3) PROJECT PERFORMANCE.—The Secretary 

21 shall cease funding any proposal that, for 3 consecu22 tive years, fails to meet the annual accomplishment 

23 targets that were established under subsection 

24 (b)(2). 


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1 (e) EXPERIENTIAL TRAINING EXCHANGES.—Not less 

2 frequently than once every 3 years, a recipient of financial 

3 assistance under the program shall provide to local entities 

4 and non-local entities an experiential, group training 

5 event, such as Prescribed Fire Training Exchange, relat6 ing to prescribed fires. 

7 (f) REPORTING.— 

8 (1) PROJECT REPORTING.—A recipient of fi9 nancial assistance under the program shall annually 

10 submit to the Secretary a report summarizing, at a 

11 minimum— 

12 (A) the number of acres mitigated with 

13 prescribed fire by the recipient under the pro14 gram; 

15 (B) the amount of Federal and non-Fed16 eral funds used by the recipient under the pro17 gram; and 

18 (C) the status and progress of any collabo19 rative relationships associated with the project. 

20 (2) PROGRAM REPORTING.—Not later than 2 

21 years after the first fiscal year in which funding is 

22 made available to carry out prescribed fires under 

23 the program, and every 2 years thereafter, the Sec24 retary shall submit to the Committee on Energy and 

25 Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee 


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1 on Natural Resources of the House of Representa2 tives a report on the program. 

3 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

4 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

5 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2033, 

6 to remain available until expended. 

7 TITLE II—FACILITATING IMPLE8 MENTATION AND OUTREACH 

9 SEC. 201. COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS AND CONTRACTS. 

10 (a) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this sec11 tion, the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means— 

12 (1) a State; 

13 (2) an Indian Tribe; 

14 (3) a county or municipal government; 

15 (4) a fire district; 

16 (5) a nongovernmental organization; and 

17 (6) a private entity. 

18 (b) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretaries may enter 

19 into a cooperative agreement or contract with an eligible 

20 entity to authorize the eligible entity to coordinate, plan, 

21 or conduct a prescribed fire on Federal land. 

22 (c) SUBCONTRACTS.—A State, Indian Tribe, or coun23 ty that enters into a cooperative agreement or contract 

24 under subsection (b) may enter into a subcontract, in ac25 cordance with applicable contracting procedures of the 


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1 State, Indian Tribe, or county, to conduct a prescribed 

2 fire on Federal land pursuant to that cooperative agree3 ment or contract. 

4 (d) AGENT OF SECRETARY.—A cooperative agree5 ment or contract entered into under subsection (b) may 

6 authorize the eligible entity to serve as the agent for the 

7 Secretary or the Secretary of Agriculture in coordinating, 

8 planning, or conducting a prescribed fire— 

9 (1) on Federal land; or 

10 (2) across an area that— 

11 (A) includes adjacent landowners; and 

12 (B) includes Federal land. 

13 (e) APPLICABLE LAW.—A prescribed fire conducted 

14 under this section shall be carried out on a project-to15 project basis under existing authorities of the applicable 

16 agency responsible for the management of the Federal 

17 land. 

18 (f) PRESERVATION OF DECISION AUTHORITY.—No 

19 project authorized under this section may be undertaken 

20 without the prior written approval of the Secretary or the 

21 Secretary of Agriculture. 

22 (g) LONG-TERM CONTRACTS.—A cooperative agree23 ment or contract with an eligible entity under subsection 

24 (b) may authorize the eligible entity to conduct a series 


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1 of prescribed fires on Federal land for a period of not 

2 longer than 10 years. 

3 SEC. 202. HUMAN RESOURCES. 

4 (a) PRESCRIBED FIRE WORKFORCE.— 

5 (1) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

6 Congress that— 

7 (A) in order to develop a prescribed fire 

8 workforce, training in prescribed fire should be 

9 developed with an emphasis on ecological out10 comes and wildfire risk reduction and outside of 

11 the parameters of suppression-oriented training; 

12 (B) the Secretaries should hire additional 

13 employees and provide or support training and 

14 development activities, including through part15 nerships with educational institutions, non16 governmental organizations, States, and Tribal 

17 entities, to increase the number of skilled and 

18 qualified practitioners dedicated to prescribed 

19 fire with smoke management skills; 

20 (C) qualifications or certifications in pre21 scribed fire should be broad to support an all22 hands, all-lands approach to burning that is re23 spectful of diverse cultural traditions and other 

24 experiential learning; and 


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1 (D) training in prescribed fire may be re2 gionally focused and should include topics of— 

3 (i) cultural fire history and traditions, 

4 which should be provided by or with the 

5 consent of Indian Tribes or Indigenous-led 

6 organizations; 

7 (ii) fire ecology; and 

8 (iii) smoke management. 

9 (2) OVERTIME PAYMENTS.— 

10 (A) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the 

11 amendment made by subparagraph (B) is to 

12 allow the Secretaries to use additional new 

13 budget authority for wildfire suppression for the 

14 cost of overtime payments to employees imple15 menting a prescribed fire. 

16 (B) AMENDMENT.—Section 

17 251(b)(2)(F)(ii)(II) of the Balanced Budget 

18 and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 

19 U.S.C. 901(b)(2)(F)(ii)(II)) is amended— 

20 (i) in item (bb), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

21 the end; 

22 (ii) in item (cc), by striking the period 

23 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

24 (iii) by adding at the end the fol25 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(dd) overtime payments to 

2 employees (including individuals 

3 employed in carrying out a con4 tract between an Indian Tribe 

5 and the Department of Agri6 culture or the Department of the 

7 Interior) implementing a pre8 scribed fire (as defined in section 

9 3 of the National Prescribed Fire 

10 Act of 2024).’’. 

11 (3) INCREASING WORKFORCE RETENTION.— 

12 (A) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this para13 graph is to require the Secretaries to carry out 

14 activities to retain sufficient workforce to imple15 ment prescribed fires and to remain competitive 

16 with other non-Federal firefighting programs. 

17 (B) HAZARD PAY.— 

18 (i) IN GENERAL.—Each Federal em19 ployee in any classification series carrying 

20 out work completed during prescribed fire, 

21 as identified by the Secretaries, shall be 

22 entitled to be paid the appropriate dif23 ferential under subsection (d) of section 

24 5545 of title 5, United States Code, as if 


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1 such employee was covered by such sub2 section. 

3 (ii) REGULATIONS.—The Director of 

4 the Office of Personnel Management may 

5 prescribe regulations to carry out this sub6 paragraph. 

7 (C) OTHER BENEFITS.—The Secretaries 

8 shall implement measures to promote retention 

9 among Federal wildland firefighters of any clas10 sification series carrying out work related to 

11 wildland fire and prescribed fire, such as portal12 to-portal pay, quarterly bonuses, or other bene13 fits. 

14 (D) INCENTIVE PAYMENTS FOR FUELS AS15 SIGNMENTS.—To attract and retain a skilled 

16 fuels workforce, the Secretaries shall implement 

17 pay incentives that account for and offset the 

18 more competitive pay options offered through 

19 wildfire suppression assignments, including 

20 such options as bonus pay, per diem payments, 

21 or grading-up fuels positions. 

22 (4) DEDICATED PRESCRIBED FIRE TASK

23 FORCES.— 

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries shall— 


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1 (i) not later than 180 days after the 

2 date of enactment of this Act, establish at 

3 least 1 multiparty task force of Federal 

4 employees and non-Federal entities within 

5 each Geographic Area Coordination Center 

6 to plan, lead, and support prescribed fire 

7 across ownership boundaries that are pri8 orities at the landscape, region, State, or 

9 Federal level; and 

10 (ii) support each task force estab11 lished under clause (i) by assigning a dedi12 cated Federal employee— 

13 (I) to aid necessary administra14 tive functions relating to partnership 

15 agreements; and 

16 (II) to coordinate prescribed fire 

17 across ownership boundaries. 

18 (B) TERM OF EMPLOYMENT FOR FEDERAL

19 TASK FORCE MEMBERS.—Federal employees as20 signed under subparagraph (A) may be hired as 

21 permanent, full-time employees using direct hir22 ing authority by the Secretaries. 

23 (C) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.—The 

24 Secretaries may enter into 1 or more coopera25 tive agreements to carry out this paragraph. 


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1 (5) CONVERSION OF SEASONAL FIREFIGHTERS

2 TO PERMANENT EMPLOYEES.—The Secretaries may 

3 noncompetitively convert a Federal seasonal em4 ployee to a Federal permanent employee if— 

5 (A) the listed job duties of the employee 

6 include wildland firefighting; 

7 (B) the employee received a rating of at 

8 least ‘‘Fully Successful’’ in each of the perform9 ance appraisals of the employee for the 5 most 

10 recent seasons of Federal employment of the 

11 employee; and 

12 (C) the job duties and performance stand13 ards of the position into which the permanent 

14 employee converts emphasize implementing pre15 scribed fires. 

16 (6) EMPLOYMENT OF FORMERLY INCARCER17 ATED INDIVIDUALS.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries, in 

19 consultation with the Attorney General and 

20 State departments of corrections, shall seek to 

21 provide career pathways, training, and wrap22 around support services, including through 

23 partnerships with the Corps Network, to indi24 viduals described in subparagraph (B) to work 

25 as prescribed fire practitioners. 


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1 (B) INDIVIDUALS DESCRIBED.—An indi2 vidual referred to in subparagraph (A) is an in3 dividual that— 

4 (i) has been convicted in any court of 

5 a criminal offense, other than arson, and 

6 was sentenced to a term of imprisonment 

7 for that offense; and 

8 (ii) during the term of imprisonment 

9 described in clause (i), served on a 

10 wildland firefighting crew or received other 

11 comparable training. 

12 (7) UNDERREPRESENTED EMPLOYEES.—To 

13 further address the gender disparity in wildland fire14 fighting, the Secretaries shall support the develop15 ment and participation of women and nonbinary in16 dividuals pursuant to Executive Order 13988 (42 

17 U.S.C. 2000e note; relating to preventing and com18 bating discrimination on the basis of gender identity 

19 or sexual orientation) in leadership opportunities, 

20 mentorship networks, and training in prescribed fire, 

21 including the Fire Leadership for Women course and 

22 Women-In-Fire Training Exchange and other re23 lated opportunities— 

24 (A) to develop strong leaders; 


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1 (B) to increase the number of women over2 seeing prescribed fires; and 

3 (C) to enhance the longevity and success of 

4 women in wildland fire management. 

5 (8) VETERANS CREWS.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries, in 

7 consultation with the Secretary of Veterans Af8 fairs, shall seek— 

9 (i) to provide a career pathway to in10 dividuals described in subparagraph (B) to 

11 work as prescribed fire practitioners; and 

12 (ii) to establish crews composed pre13 dominantly of veterans to conduct pre14 scribed fires. 

15 (B) INDIVIDUALS DESCRIBED.—An indi16 vidual referred to in subparagraph (A) is an in17 dividual who— 

18 (i) served in the active military, naval, 

19 or air service; and 

20 (ii) was discharged or released under 

21 conditions other than dishonorable. 

22 (9) INTER-TRIBAL ORGANIZATIONS.—The Sec23 retaries may provide funding to Tribal, Indigenous24 led, and inter-Tribal organizations, including the 


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1 Intertribal Timber Council, to provide training and 

2 workforce development opportunities in wildland fire. 

3 (b) ADDITIONAL TRAINING CENTERS.—Subject to 

4 the availability of appropriations, not later than 2 years 

5 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in 

6 cooperation with the Secretary of Agriculture (and the 

7 Secretary of Defense in the case of a center located on 

8 a military installation), shall— 

9 (1) establish, operate, and facilitate a pre10 scribed fire training program or center in each Geo11 graphic Area Coordination Center region where such 

12 a program or center does not exist on the date of 

13 enactment of this Act; 

14 (2) support the establishment of an Indigenous15 led prescribed fire and cultural burning training cen16 ter operated by an Indian Tribe or partnership of 

17 Indian Tribes; 

18 (3) establish a virtual prescribed fire training 

19 center; and 

20 (4) establish and operate a training center for 

21 managing wildfire for resource objectives. 

22 (c) COMPETENCIES FOR FIREFIGHTERS.— 

23 (1) UPDATES TO REQUIRED COMPETENCIES

24 FOR SPECIFIC FIREFIGHTER POSITIONS.—The Sec25 retaries, in coordination with the Fire Executive 


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1 Council, the National Association of State Foresters, 

2 and the Intertribal Timber Council, shall task the 

3 National Wildfire Coordinating Group to add a re4 quirement for an individual to obtain the necessary 

5 certification to serve in— 

6 (A) the position of a single-resource boss; 

7 and 

8 (B) any other positions determined to be 

9 necessary by the Secretaries. 

10 (2) ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE.—The Secre11 taries shall require significant additional experience, 

12 gained exclusively during a prescribed fire, to obtain 

13 a certification described in paragraph (1). 

14 (d) INDEMNITY OF FEDERAL AND TRIBAL EMPLOY15 EES.—Except in the case of gross negligence, a Federal 

16 employee, an employee contracted by an Indian Tribe, or 

17 an Indian Tribe as a contracting entity, acting pursuant 

18 to a contract under the Indian Self-Determination Act (25 

19 U.S.C. 5321 et seq.) overseeing a prescribed fire, if that 

20 prescribed fire escaped or caused loss or damage— 

21 (1) shall not be subject to criminal prosecution; 

22 and 

23 (2) shall not be subject to civil proceedings, ex24 cept in accordance with section 2672 of title 28, 

25 United States Code. 


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1 (e) INDEMNITY OF OTHER COOPERATORS.—Except 

2 in the case of gross negligence, an individual or entity in3 volved in a prescribed fire on Federal land or under Fed4 eral authority, if that prescribed fire escaped or caused 

5 loss or damage— 

6 (1) shall not be subject to criminal prosecution; 

7 and 

8 (2) shall not be subject to civil proceedings, ex9 cept in accordance with section 2672 of title 28, 

10 United States Code. 

11 (f) INDEMNITY FOR PRESCRIBED FIRES.—Except in 

12 the case of gross negligence, an individual or entity in13 volved in a prescribed fire on any land, if that prescribed 

14 fire escaped, caused harm or damage, or required suppres15 sion resources— 

16 (1) shall not be liable for or subject to recovery 

17 of Federal fire suppression costs and costs of inves18 tigation incurred by Federal agencies; and 

19 (2) shall not be liable for monetary damages for 

20 loss or damage to any natural resource or timber 

21 values on Federal land. 

22 (g) ENHANCING INTEROPERABILITY BETWEEN FED23 ERAL AND NON-FEDERAL PRACTITIONERS.— 

24 (1) QUALIFICATION DATABASES AND DISPATCH

25 SYSTEMS.—The Secretaries shall establish a collaboVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:40 Nov 22, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00031 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S4424.RS S4424

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1 rative process to create mechanisms for non-Federal2 agency fire practitioners, including those without ju3 risdictional authority, to be included in wildfire re4 source ordering and reimbursement processes. 

5 (2) PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS.—The Secre6 taries shall— 

7 (A) develop partnership agreements for 

8 prescribed fire with all relevant State, Federal, 

9 Tribal, university, and nongovernmental entities 

10 that choose to be included in resource ordering 

11 and reimbursement processes under paragraph 

12 (1); 

13 (B) create agreements and structures nec14 essary to include non-Federal-agency and other 

15 nontraditional partners in direct work with 

16 Federal agencies to address prescribed fires; 

17 and 

18 (C) treat any prescribed fire practitioner 

19 meeting the National Wildfire Coordinating 

20 Group standards as eligible to be included in 

21 statewide participating agreements. 

22 SEC. 203. LIABILITY OF CERTIFIED PRESCRIBED FIRE MAN23 AGERS. 

24 (a) DEFINITION OF COVERED LAW.—In this section, 

25 the term ‘‘covered law’’ means a State law that establishes 


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1 the standard of care in a civil suit against a certified pre2 scribed fire manager for an escaped prescribed fire to be 

3 ‘‘gross negligence’’, if the certified prescribed fire man4 ager— 

5 (1) obtained a permit for the prescribed fire; 

6 (2) conducted the prescribed fire consistent 

7 with a written prescribed fire plan; 

8 (3) was at the site of the prescribed fire for the 

9 duration of the prescribed fire; 

10 (4) ensured adequate personnel, equipment, and 

11 firebreaks were in place during the prescribed fire, 

12 in accordance with the written prescribed fire plan; 

13 and 

14 (5) complied with any applicable Federal, Trib15 al, State, and local laws. 

16 (b) MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT.—Subject to the 

17 availability of appropriations, in accordance with rec18 ommendation A3C of the special report of the Western 

19 Governors’ National Forest and Rangeland Management 

20 Initiative, dated June 2017, the Secretary may enter into 

21 a memorandum of agreement with the National Gov22 ernors’ Association to host a conference, at which gov23 ernors can meet to discuss the benefits of addressing li24 ability protection and possible incentives for States to 

25 enact a covered law. 


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1 (c) FUNDING.—The Secretary may provide not more 

2 than $1,000,000 under the memorandum of agreement 

3 under subsection (b). 

4 SEC. 204. PRESCRIBED FIRE CLAIMS FUND STUDY. 

5 (a) COMMISSIONING OF STUDY.—Not later than 1 

6 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secre7 taries, in coordination with the Director of the Office of 

8 Management and Budget, shall complete a study of the 

9 feasibility, design, and effectiveness of a national pre10 scribed fire claims fund (or similar mechanism) to increase 

11 the pace and scale of prescribed fire across all lands by 

12 multiple users and for multiple objectives. 

13 (b) ELEMENTS.—The study required under sub14 section (a) shall include an analysis of the following: 

15 (1) The feasibility at the national level of a 

16 claims fund or other mechanism to supplement, re17 place, or backstop private insurance for prescribed 

18 fire and adverse smoke impacts. 

19 (2) The design and administration of such a 

20 fund. 

21 (3) The effectiveness of a national claims fund 

22 or other mechanism to supplement, replace, or back23 stop private market insurance for non-Federal or 

24 State government prescribed fire practitioners. 


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1 (4) The eligibility requirements for submission 

2 of claims to such a fund with an emphasis on equity 

3 and inclusivity of all types of prescribed fire practi4 tioners and methods of practice. 

5 (5)(A) The role and influence of State liability 

6 laws on prescribed fire practitioner liability; 

7 (B) the impact of State liability laws on the 

8 availability and affordability of insurance for pre9 scribed fire; and 

10 (C) how States may be incentivized to enact 

11 laws clearly establishing and reducing practitioner li12 ability for civil suits and suppression and investiga13 tion cost recovery. 

14 SEC. 205. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW. 

15 (a) SMOKE MANAGEMENT AGENCIES.— 

16 (1) POLICY.—The Secretaries shall ensure that 

17 policies, training, and programs of the Secretaries 

18 are consistent with this subsection— 

19 (A) to facilitate greater use of prescribed 

20 fire; and 

21 (B) to address public health and safety, in22 cluding impacts from smoke from wildfires and 

23 prescribed fires. 

24 (2) EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS.—The Secretaries 

25 may expend funding appropriated for hazardous fuel 


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1 reduction to mitigate the impacts of smoke from 

2 prescribed fire. 

3 (3) COORDINATION AMONG FEDERAL, TRIBAL, 

4 AND STATE AIR QUALITY AGENCIES AND FEDERAL, 

5 TRIBAL, AND STATE LAND MANAGEMENT AGEN6 CIES.—The Administrator of the Environmental 

7 Protection Agency, in cooperation with Federal and 

8 State land management agencies, shall coordinate 

9 with State, Tribal, and local air quality agencies 

10 that regulate smoke under the Clean Air Act (42 

11 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) to facilitate the use of pre12 scribed fire on Federal land and State, Tribal, and 

13 private land, including by— 

14 (A) streamlining the decisionmaking proc15 ess for approving the use of prescribed fire 

16 under a State, Tribal, or local government 

17 smoke management program; and 

18 (B)(i) promoting basic smoke management 

19 practices; 

20 (ii) disseminating information about basic 

21 smoke management practices; and 

22 (iii) educating landowners that use pre23 scribed fire about the importance of— 

24 (I) using basic smoke management 

25 practices; and 


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1 (II) including basic smoke manage2 ment practices as a component of a pre3 scribed fire plan. 

4 (4) EXCEPTIONAL EVENT DEMONSTRATIONS.— 

5 (A) REQUIREMENT TO SEEK EXCEPTIONAL

6 EVENT DEMONSTRATION.—Subject to subpara7 graph (C), the appropriate State or Tribal air 

8 quality agency shall develop and submit to the 

9 Administrator of the Environmental Protection 

10 Agency a demonstration in accordance with sec11 tion 50.14 of title 40, Code of Federal Regula12 tions (or successor regulations), if— 

13 (i) the Secretary, the Secretary of Ag14 riculture, a State land management agen15 cy, or an Indian Tribe conducts a pre16 scribed fire on Federal land, Tribally 

17 owned fee land, or State land, as applica18 ble, in accordance with a State or Tribal 

19 smoke management program that incor20 porates basic smoke management prac21 tices; and 

22 (ii) the prescribed fire described in 

23 clause (i) contributes to an exceedance or 

24 other violation of a national ambient air 

25 quality standard under section 109 of the 


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1 Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7409), as meas2 ured using a Federal reference monitor or 

3 an equivalent method. 

4 (B) DEMONSTRATION ASSISTANCE.—For 

5 an exceedance or other violation described in 

6 clause (ii) of subparagraph (A), the Secretary 

7 or Secretary of Agriculture, with the concur8 rence of the State or Tribal air quality agency, 

9 shall assist with the development of the dem10 onstration under that subparagraph. 

11 (C) SAVINGS PROVISION.—Subparagraph 

12 (A) shall not apply if the exceedance or other 

13 violation described in clause (ii) of that sub14 paragraph is the result of— 

15 (i) a violation of a smoke management 

16 program; 

17 (ii) a failure to use basic smoke man18 agement practices; or 

19 (iii) a violation of permit conditions 

20 relating to the protection of air quality and 

21 public health. 

22 (5) EXEMPTION FOR LARGE PRESCRIBED

23 FIRES.— 

24 (A) FEDERAL LAND MANAGEMENT AGENCY

25 EXEMPTION.—Consistent with subsection (b) of 


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1 section 118 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 

2 7418), a prescribed fire conducted on Federal 

3 land by the Secretary or the Secretary of Agri4 culture that burns more than 1,000 acres per 

5 day shall be deemed to be in the paramount in6 terest of the United States and shall be exempt 

7 from requirements with respect to the control of 

8 pollution from Federal facilities under that Act 

9 (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) if the Secretary or the 

10 Secretary of Agriculture determines that the 

11 prescribed fire— 

12 (i) will be conducted in an area where 

13 the terrain or fuel load makes the area in14 accessible or unsafe for firefighting per15 sonnel; 

16 (ii) is necessary to reduce hazardous 

17 fuels; 

18 (iii) will be conducted to minimize 

19 smoke impacts on populated areas through 

20 the use of basic smoke management prac21 tices; and 

22 (iv) will be conducted under a smoke 

23 management program, if applicable. 

24 (B) STATE EXEMPTION.—If the Secretary 

25 concerned conducts a prescribed fire that is 


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1 deemed to be in the paramount interest of the 

2 United States under subparagraph (A) on Fed3 eral land, a prescribed fire conducted by a State 

4 land management agency on State or private 

5 land that is contiguous to that Federal land 

6 shall be exempt from any applicable national 

7 ambient air quality standards under section 109 

8 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7409). 

9 (C) TRIBAL EXEMPTION.—Consistent with 

10 subsection (b) of section 118 of the Clean Air 

11 Act (42 U.S.C. 7418), a prescribed fire con12 ducted on Tribal land by, or in accordance with 

13 an agreement with, an Indian Tribe that burns 

14 more than 1,000 acres per day shall be deemed 

15 to be in the paramount interest of the United 

16 States and shall be exempt from requirements 

17 with respect to the control of pollution from 

18 Federal facilities under that Act (42 U.S.C. 

19 7401 et seq.) if the Indian Tribe determines 

20 that the prescribed fire— 

21 (i) will be conducted in an area where 

22 the terrain or fuel load makes the area in23 accessible or unsafe for firefighting per24 sonnel; 


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1 (ii) is necessary to reduce hazardous 

2 fuels; 

3 (iii) will be conducted to minimize 

4 smoke impacts on populated areas through 

5 the use of basic smoke management prac6 tices; and 

7 (iv) will be conducted under a smoke 

8 management program, if applicable. 

9 (D) SAVINGS PROVISION.—Consistent with 

10 section 118(b) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 

11 7418(b))— 

12 (i) an exemption granted under this 

13 paragraph shall apply to the applicable en14 tity for a period of not more than 1 year; 

15 and 

16 (ii) on a new determination of the 

17 Secretary, the Secretary of Agriculture, or 

18 an Indian Tribe under subparagraph (A) 

19 or (C), as applicable, additional exemptions 

20 under this paragraph may be granted for 

21 subsequent periods after the expiration of 

22 the exemption described in clause (i), each 

23 of which shall apply for a period of not 

24 more than 1 year. 

25 (6) STATE AND TRIBAL STANDARDS.— 


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1 (A) APPROVAL OF STATE OR TRIBAL

2 STANDARDS.—Notwithstanding section 110 of 

3 the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7410), when ap4 proving a State or Tribal implementation plan 

5 under that section, the Administrator of the 

6 Environmental Protection Agency may not ap7 prove any standards with respect to— 

8 (i) preventing nuisance impacts that 

9 result from prescribed fires that incor10 porate basic smoke management practices; 

11 or 

12 (ii) criteria pollutants that result from 

13 prescribed fires that are more stringent 

14 than what is required to meet the national 

15 ambient air quality standards for those 

16 pollutants under section 109 of that Act 

17 (42 U.S.C. 7409), as measured using a 

18 Federal reference monitor or an equivalent 

19 method. 

20 (B) STATE AND TRIBAL ENFORCEMENT.— 

21 A State or an Indian Tribe may not enforce 

22 standards in a State or Tribal implementation 

23 plan that was approved under the Clean Air Act 

24 (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) before the date of en25 actment of this Act with respect to— 


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1 (i) preventing nuisance impacts that 

2 result from prescribed fires that incor3 porate basic smoke management practices; 

4 or 

5 (ii) criteria pollutants that result from 

6 prescribed fires that are more stringent 

7 than what is required to meet the national 

8 ambient air quality standards for those 

9 pollutants under section 109 of that Act 

10 (42 U.S.C. 7409), as measured using a 

11 Federal reference monitor or an equivalent 

12 method. 

13 (C) AMENDMENT TO ANTI-BACKSLIDING

14 PROVISION.—If a State or Tribal implementa15 tion plan under section 110 of the Clean Air 

16 Act (42 U.S.C. 7410) is revised to include a 

17 smoke management program for prescribed 

18 fires in that implementation plan, subsection (l) 

19 of that section shall not apply with respect to 

20 that revision. 

21 (7) EVALUATION.—The Secretary or the Sec22 retary of Agriculture, as applicable, shall conduct an 

23 evaluation to facilitate learning new approaches for 

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1 quent prescribed fires if the Secretary or the Sec2 retary of Agriculture— 

3 (A) conducts a prescribed fire on Federal 

4 land— 

5 (i) for which a demonstration is devel6 oped and submitted under paragraph 

7 (4)(A); or 

8 (ii) that is subject to an exemption 

9 under paragraph (5)(A); and 

10 (B) the prescribed fire described in sub11 paragraph (A) contributes to an exceedance of 

12 a national ambient air quality standard under 

13 section 109 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 

14 7409). 

15 (8) PROGRAMS AND RESEARCH.—To address 

16 the public health and safety risk of the expanded use 

17 of prescribed fire under this Act, the Secretary of 

18 Agriculture and the Secretary, in coordination with 

19 the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 

20 Agency and the Director of the Centers for Disease 

21 Control and Prevention, shall conduct research to 

22 improve or develop— 

23 (A) wildland fire smoke prediction models; 

24 (B) smoke impact display tools for the 

25 public and decisionmakers; 


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1 (C) appropriate, cost-effective, and con2 sistent mitigation strategies for communities 

3 impacted adversely by smoke from prescribed 

4 fire; 

5 (D) consistent nationally and scientifically 

6 supported messages regarding personal protec7 tion equipment for the public; and 

8 (E) prescribed fire activity tracking and 

9 emission inventory systems for planning and 

10 post-treatment accountability. 

11 (b) DEVELOPMENT OF LANDSCAPE-SCALE FEDERAL

12 PRESCRIBED FIRE PLANS.— 

13 (1) DEFINITION OF SECRETARY CONCERNED.— 

14 In this subsection, the term ‘‘Secretary concerned’’ 

15 means— 

16 (A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re17 spect to a unit of the National Forest System; 

18 and 

19 (B) the Secretary, with respect to a Bu20 reau of Land Management district. 

21 (2) INCLUSION OF LANDSCAPE-SCALE PRE22 SCRIBED FIRE PLANS.—The Secretary concerned 

23 shall, with respect to units of the National Forest 

24 System and Bureau of Land Management districts 

25 with existing prescribed fire programs— 


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1 (A) not later than 1 year after the date of 

2 enactment of this Act, determine which of those 

3 units or districts have landscape-scale pre4 scribed fire plans; and 

5 (B) not later than 2 years after the date 

6 of enactment of this Act— 

7 (i) determine whether each plan de8 scribed in subparagraph (A) requires revi9 sion; 

10 (ii) establish a schedule for the revi11 sion of each plan described in subpara12 graph (A) that requires revision; and 

13 (iii) develop landscape-scale prescribed 

14 fire plans for any units or districts that do 

15 not have landscape-scale fire plans. 

16 (3) ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE.—In car17 rying out paragraph (2), the Secretary concerned 

18 shall— 

19 (A) comply with— 

20 (i) the National Environmental Policy 

21 Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.); 

22 (ii) the Endangered Species Act of 

23 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); 

24 (iii) division A of subtitle III of title 

25 54, United States Code; and 


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1 (iv) any other applicable laws; and 

2 (B) consider the site-specific environmental 

3 consequences of the landscape-scale prescribed 

4 fire decisions under this subsection. 

5 (4) COLLABORATIVE DEVELOPMENT.—In car6 rying out paragraph (2), the Secretary concerned 

7 shall collaborate with diverse actors from academia, 

8 the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management 

9 research and development, nongovernmental organi10 zations, cultural fire practitioners, and other enti11 ties, as determined appropriate by the Secretary 

12 concerned. 

13 (5) CONSULTATION WITH INDIAN TRIBES.—The 

14 Secretary concerned shall engage in government-to15 government consultation with Indian Tribes in com16 plying with this subsection. 

17 (6) REPORTS.—Not later than 1 year after the 

18 date of enactment of this Act, and annually there19 after, the Secretary concerned shall submit to Con20 gress a report on the progress of the Secretary con21 cerned with respect to carrying out this subsection. 

22 SEC. 206. PRESCRIBED FIRE EDUCATION PROGRAM. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture, act24 ing through the Chief of the Forest Service, and the Sec25 retary, acting through the Director of the Office of 


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1 Wildland Fire, shall carry out a national prescribed fire 

2 education program focused on fire ecology and prescribed 

3 fire planning and implementation. 

4 (b) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—A prescribed fire edu5 cation program authorized under subsection (a) may in6 clude— 

7 (1) public service advertisements; 

8 (2) the use of social media; 

9 (3) campaign and educational activities and ma10 terials; 

11 (4) commercial licensing; 

12 (5) character images and appearances; and 

13 (6) awards and recognition. 

14 TITLE III—REPORTING 

15 SEC. 301. ANNUAL REPORTS TO THE NATIONAL FIRE PLAN16 NING AND OPERATIONS DATABASE. 

17 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to en18 sure an accurate reporting of annual prescribed fire ac19 complishments in the United States. 

20 (b) COST-SHARE.—Subject to the availability of ap21 propriations, the Secretary may provide financial assist22 ance to States to pay a portion of the costs associated 

23 with annually reporting prescribed fire accomplishments. 

24 (c) ELIGIBILITY FOR FUNDS.—If, by December 31 

25 of each year, a State has not reported to the National Fire 


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1 Planning and Operations Database, at a minimum, the 

2 number of acres mitigated using prescribed fire in the 

3 State, the State shall not be eligible to receive any 

4 amounts made available under this Act for the previous 

5 fiscal year. 

6 SEC. 302. ANNUAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT. 

7 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

8 of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretaries shall 

9 each submit to Congress a report on the activities carried 

10 out under this Act. 

11 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

12 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Na13 tional Prescribed Fire Act of 2024’’. 

14 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

15 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Definitions. 

TITLE I—USE OF FUNDS 

Sec. 101. Definition of prescribed fire. 

Sec. 102. Prescribed fire funding. 

Sec. 103. Policies and practices. 

Sec. 104. Collaborative Prescribed Fire Program. 

TITLE II—FACILITATING IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTREACH 

Sec. 201. Cooperative agreements and contracts. 

Sec. 202. Human resources. 

Sec. 203. Liability of prescribed fire managers. 

Sec. 204. Prescribed fire claims fund study. 

Sec. 205. Environmental review. 

Sec. 206. Prescribed fire education program. 

TITLE III—REPORTING 

Sec. 301. Annual reports to the National Fire Planning and Operations Database. 

Sec. 302. Annual implementation report. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.—The term 

4 ‘‘congressional committees’’ means— 

5 (A) the Committee on Energy and Natural 

6 Resources, the Committee on Agriculture, Nutri7 tion, and Forestry, and the Committee on Ap8 propriations of the Senate; and 

9 (B) the Committee on Natural Resources, 

10 the Committee on Agriculture, and the Com11 mittee on Appropriations of the House of Rep12 resentatives. 

13 (2) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 

14 means— 

15 (A) land under the jurisdiction of the Sec16 retary; and 

17 (B) National Forest System land. 

18 (3) LANDSCAPE-SCALE PRESCRIBED FIRE

19 PLAN.—The term ‘‘landscape-scale prescribed fire 

20 plan’’ means a decision document prepared pursuant 

21 to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 

22 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) that— 

23 (A) covers a unit of the National Forest 

24 System, a Bureau of Land Management district, 

25 or a subunit thereof; 


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1 (B) analyzes the site-specific environmental 

2 consequences of prescribed fire on the land de3 scribed in subparagraph (A); and 

4 (C) obviates the need for subsequent deci5 sions pursuant to the National Environmental 

6 Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) with 

7 respect to the unit, district, or subunit described 

8 in subparagraph (A). 

9 (4) NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM.— 

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘National For11 est System’’ has the meaning given the term in 

12 section 11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland Re13 newable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 

14 U.S.C. 1609(a)). 

15 (B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘‘National For16 est System’’ does not include the national grass17 lands and land utilization projects administered 

18 under title III of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Ten19 ant Act (7 U.S.C. 1010 et seq.). 

20 (5) PRESCRIBED FIRE.—The term ‘‘prescribed 

21 fire’’ means a fire deliberately ignited to burn 

22 wildland fuels in a natural or modified state— 

23 (A) under specified environmental condi24 tions that are intended to allow the fire to be 

25 confined to a predetermined area and produce 


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1 the fireline intensity and rate of spread required 

2 to attain planned resource management objec3 tives; and 

4 (B) in accordance with applicable law, in5 cluding applicable regulations. 

6 (6) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 

7 means— 

8 (A) the Secretary; and 

9 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture. 

10 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

11 the Secretary of the Interior. 

12 (8) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec13 retary concerned’’ means— 

14 (A) the Secretary, in the case of land under 

15 the jurisdiction of the Secretary; and 

16 (B) the Secretary of Agriculture, in the case 

17 of land under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of 

18 Agriculture. 

19 TITLE I—USE OF FUNDS 

20 SEC. 101. DEFINITION OF PRESCRIBED FIRE. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—In this title, the term ‘‘prescribed 

22 fire’’ has the meaning given the term in section 2. 

23 (b) EXCLUSION.—In this title, the term ‘‘prescribed 

24 fire’’ does not include a fire that is ignited for the primary 

25 purpose of pile burning. 


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1 SEC. 102. PRESCRIBED FIRE FUNDING. 

2 (a) FUNDING FLEXIBILITY.— 

3 (1) DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.—The Sec4 retary of Agriculture may use not more than 15 per5 cent of funds appropriated for each fiscal year for 

6 hazardous fuels management in the National Forest 

7 System for activities described in subsection (b). 

8 (2) DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.—The Sec9 retary may use not more than 15 percent of funds ap10 propriated for each fiscal year for hazardous fuels 

11 management and post-fire activities in the account 

12 for wildland fire management of the Department of 

13 the Interior for activities described in subsection (b). 

14 (b) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—The activities referred to 

15 in subsection (a) are— 

16 (1) with respect to prescribed fires on Federal 

17 land, or on non-Federal land if the Secretary con18 cerned determines that such activities would benefit 

19 resources on Federal land— 

20 (A) entering into procurement contracts or 

21 cooperative agreements for prescribed fire activi22 ties; 

23 (B) issuing grants to a State, Tribal gov24 ernment, local government, prescribed fire coun25 cil, prescribed burn association, or nonprofit orVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:40 Nov 22, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00053 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S4424.RS S4424

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1 ganization for the implementation of prescribed 

2 fires, including— 

3 (i) carrying out necessary environ4 mental reviews; 

5 (ii) carrying out any site preparation 

6 necessary for implementing prescribed fires; 

7 and 

8 (iii) conducting any required pre-igni9 tion cultural and environmental surveys; 

10 and 

11 (C) conducting outreach to the public, In12 dian Tribes and beneficiaries, and adjacent 

13 landowners; 

14 (2) implementing prescribed fires on non-Federal 

15 land, if the Secretary concerned determines that the 

16 prescribed fire would benefit Federal land, includ17 ing— 

18 (A) carrying out necessary environmental 

19 reviews; 

20 (B) carrying out any site preparation nec21 essary for implementing prescribed fires; and 

22 (C) conducting any required pre-ignition 

23 cultural and environmental surveys; 


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1 (3) providing training for prescribed fire and 

2 basic smoke management practices to Federal employ3 ees and cooperators; 

4 (4) conducting post-prescribed fire activities, 

5 such as monitoring for hazard trees or reignitions 

6 and invasive species management; 

7 (5) providing technical or financial assistance to 

8 a State, Tribal government, local government, pre9 scribed fire council, prescribed burn association, or 

10 nonprofit organization for the purpose of providing 

11 training for prescribed fire or basic smoke manage12 ment practices, consistent with any standards devel13 oped by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group or 

14 State prescribed fire standards; 

15 (6) completing the prescribed fire claims fund 

16 study under section 204; and 

17 (7) providing funding for the applicable Collabo18 rative Prescribed Fire Program established under sec19 tion 104. 

20 (c) PRIORITIZATION.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), the 

22 Secretary concerned shall coordinate with the other 

23 Secretary concerned, State and local government 

24 agencies, Indian Tribes, and applicable nongovern25 mental organizations to establish prioritization criVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:40 Nov 22, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00055 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S4424.RS S4424

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1 teria for expending amounts pursuant to subsection 

2 (a) for activities described in paragraphs (2), (5), (6), 

3 and (7) of subsection (b). 

4 (2) REQUIREMENT.—In establishing criteria 

5 under paragraph (1), the Secretary concerned shall 

6 give priority to a project that is— 

7 (A) implemented across a large contiguous 

8 area; 

9 (B) cross-boundary in nature; 

10 (C) in an area that is— 

11 (i) within or adjacent to the wildland12 urban interface and identified as a priority 

13 area in a statewide forest action plan or 

14 Community Wildfire Protection Plan; or 

15 (ii) identified as important to the pro16 tection of a Tribal trust resource or the re17 served or treaty rights of an Indian Tribe; 

18 (D) on land that is at high or very high 

19 risk of experiencing a wildfire that would be dif20 ficult to suppress; 

21 (E) in an area that is designated as critical 

22 habitat and in need of ecological restoration or 

23 enhancement that can be achieved with the aid 

24 of prescribed fire; or 


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1 (F) supportive of potential operational de2 lineations or strategic response zones. 

3 SEC. 103. POLICIES AND PRACTICES. 

4 (a) INCREASING PRESCRIBED FIRE.—Beginning with 

5 the first fiscal year that begins after the date of enactment 

6 of this Act, and for each of the 9 fiscal years thereafter, 

7 the Secretaries shall conduct prescribed fires on Federal 

8 land such that the total acreage of Federal land on which 

9 prescribed fires are conducted is 10 percent greater than 

10 the total acreage of all Federal land on which prescribed 

11 fires were conducted in the preceding fiscal year. 

12 (b) OPERATIONAL STRATEGY.—The Secretary con13 cerned shall develop, in coordination with State, local, and 

14 Tribal governments, a prescribed fire operational strategy 

15 for each region of the National Forest System or the Depart16 ment of the Interior, as applicable, that describes— 

17 (1) the fire deficit by region; and 

18 (2) staffing and funding needs to address the fire 

19 deficit under paragraph (1). 

20 SEC. 104. COLLABORATIVE PRESCRIBED FIRE PROGRAM. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary concerned, in coordi22 nation with the other Secretary concerned, shall establish 

23 a Collaborative Prescribed Fire Program (referred to in this 

24 section as a ‘‘program’’) to select and fund prescribed fire 


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1 projects (each of which is referred to in this section as a 

2 ‘‘project’’) in accordance with— 

3 (1) the prioritization criteria established under 

4 section 102(c); 

5 (2) the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 

6 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); 

7 (3) the National Environmental Policy Act of 

8 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.); 

9 (4) the applicable land use or land management 

10 plan; and 

11 (5) any other applicable law. 

12 (b) ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA.—To be eligible for nomi13 nation under subsection (c), a proposal for a project shall— 

14 (1) be consistent with a landscape restoration 

15 strategy— 

16 (A) that is complete or substantially com17 plete; 

18 (B) that identifies and prioritizes pre19 scribed fire treatments for a 10-year period with20 in a landscape that is— 

21 (i) at least 50,000 acres; 

22 (ii) composed primarily of forested 

23 Federal land under the jurisdiction of the 

24 Secretary concerned, but may also include 

25 other Federal, State, Tribal, or private 


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1 land, if a treatment on that land would 

2 benefit the applicable Federal land; 

3 (iii) in need of— 

4 (I) active ecosystem restoration; or 

5 (II) maintenance activities to re6 tain previously treated land in a wild7 fire-resilient state; 

8 (C) that incorporates the best available 

9 science and scientific application tools to iden10 tify project areas; 

11 (D) that fully maintains, or contributes to12 ward the restoration of, the structure and com13 position of old growth stands according to the 

14 pre-fire suppression old growth conditions char15 acteristic of the forest type— 

16 (i) taking into account the contribu17 tion of the stand to landscape fire adapta18 tion and watershed health; and 

19 (ii) retaining the large trees contrib20 uting to old growth structure; 

21 (E) under which would be carried out any 

22 forest restoration treatments that reduce haz23 ardous fuels through the use of fire for ecological 

24 restoration and maintenance and reestablishing 

25 natural fire regimes, where appropriate, which— 


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1 (i) may include site preparation, if 

2 necessary to prepare the landscape for rees3 tablishment of a natural fire regime; and 

4 (ii) shall maximize the retention of 

5 large trees, as appropriate for the forest 

6 type, to the extent that the trees promote 

7 fire-resilient stands; and 

8 (F) under which— 

9 (i) no permanent roads would be estab10 lished; and 

11 (ii) funding would be committed to de12 commission all temporary roads constructed 

13 to carry out the strategy; 

14 (2) be developed and implemented through a col15 laborative process that— 

16 (A) includes multiple interested persons rep17 resenting diverse interests; and 

18 (B) is transparent and nonexclusive; 

19 (3) describe plans, as applicable— 

20 (A) to reduce the risk of uncharacteristic 

21 wildfire; 

22 (B) to improve fish and wildlife habitat, in23 cluding for endangered, threatened, and sensitive 

24 species; 


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1 (C) to maintain or improve water quality 

2 and watershed function; 

3 (D) to prevent, remediate, or control inva4 sions of exotic species; 

5 (E) to maintain, decommission, and reha6 bilitate roads and trails; 

7 (F) to report annually on performance, in8 cluding setting accomplishment targets for each 

9 year; 

10 (G) to take into account any applicable 

11 community wildfire protection plan; and 

12 (H) to mitigate smoke impacts on nearby 

13 communities; 

14 (4) include an analysis of any anticipated cost 

15 savings, including savings resulting from— 

16 (A) a reduced risk of wildfire damages, es17 pecially to high-value resources; and 

18 (B) a decrease in the unit costs of imple19 menting ecological restoration treatments over 

20 time; 

21 (5) include estimates of— 

22 (A) the amount of annual Federal funding 

23 necessary to implement the proposed project; and 


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1 (B) the amount of new non-Federal invest2 ment for carrying out the proposed project that 

3 would be leveraged; 

4 (6) describe the collaborative process described in 

5 paragraph (2) through which the proposal was devel6 oped, including a description of— 

7 (A) participation by or consultation with 

8 State, local, and Tribal governments; and 

9 (B) any established record of successful col10 laborative planning and implementation of pre11 scribed fire projects on National Forest System 

12 land and other land included in the proposal by 

13 the collaborators; 

14 (7) propose to benefit local economies by pro15 viding local employment or training opportunities 

16 through contracts, grants, or agreements for planning, 

17 design, implementation, or monitoring with— 

18 (A) local private, nonprofit, or cooperative 

19 entities; 

20 (B) Youth Conservation Corps crews or re21 lated partnerships with State, local, and non22 profit youth groups; 

23 (C) existing or proposed small or micro24 businesses, clusters, or incubators; or 


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1 (D) other entities that will hire or train 

2 local individuals to complete those contracts, 

3 grants, or agreements; and 

4 (8) be subject to any other requirements that the 

5 Secretary concerned determines to be necessary for the 

6 efficient and effective administration of the program. 

7 (c) NOMINATION PROCESS.— 

8 (1) SUBMISSION.—A proposal for a project shall 

9 be submitted to the appropriate Regional Forester, 

10 State Director, or other similar official. 

11 (2) NOMINATION.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—An official described in 

13 paragraph (1) may nominate for selection by the 

14 Secretary concerned any proposals received by 

15 the official under that paragraph that meet the 

16 eligibility criteria described in subsection (b). 

17 (B) CONCURRENCE.—In the case of a pro18 posal for a project that involves activities on the 

19 land of both of the Secretaries concerned, a nom20 ination under subparagraph (A) shall include 

21 the concurrence of the appropriate official for the 

22 applicable land that is not under the jurisdiction 

23 of the official nominating the proposal. 

24 (3) OTHER LAND.—In the case of a proposal for 

25 a project that involves activities on land that is not 


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1 under the jurisdiction of either of the Secretaries con2 cerned, a nomination under subparagraph (A) shall 

3 include evidence that the landowner intends to par4 ticipate in, and provide appropriate funding to carry 

5 out, the activities. 

6 (d) SELECTION PROCESS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary concerned, in 

8 consultation with the other Secretary concerned, shall 

9 select for implementation proposals for projects— 

10 (A) that have been nominated under sub11 section (c)(2); 

12 (B) that meet the eligibility criteria de13 scribed in subsection (b); and 

14 (C) in accordance with the prioritization 

15 criteria established under section 102(c). 

16 (2) CRITERIA.—In selecting proposals under 

17 paragraph (1), the Secretary concerned shall give spe18 cial consideration to— 

19 (A) the strength of the proposal, including 

20 the landscape restoration strategy described in 

21 subsection (b)(1) of the proposal; 

22 (B) the strength of the ecological case of the 

23 proposal and the proposed ecological restoration 

24 strategies under the proposal; 


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1 (C) the strength of the collaborative process 

2 described in subsection (b)(2) through which the 

3 proposal was developed and the likelihood of suc4 cessful collaboration throughout implementation; 

5 (D) the extent to which the proposal is like6 ly to achieve reductions in long-term wildfire 

7 risk and increased protection of high-value re8 sources; 

9 (E) the extent to which an appropriate level 

10 of non-Federal investment would be leveraged in 

11 carrying out the proposed project; and 

12 (F) ensuring geographic diversity of projects 

13 implemented under this section. 

14 (3) LIMITATION.—The Secretary concerned may 

15 select not more than— 

16 (A) 20 proposals under paragraph (1) to be 

17 funded during any fiscal year; and 

18 (B) the number of proposals under para19 graph (1) that the Secretary concerned deter20 mines are likely to receive adequate funding. 

21 (e) REPORTING.— 

22 (1) PROJECT REPORTING.—A recipient of finan23 cial assistance to carry out a project under the pro24 gram shall annually submit to the Secretary con25 cerned a report summarizing, at a minimum— 


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1 (A) the number of acres of land treated with 

2 prescribed fire by the recipient under the pro3 gram; and 

4 (B) the amount of Federal and non-Federal 

5 funds used by the recipient under the program. 

6 (2) PROGRAM REPORT.—Not later than 5 years 

7 after the first fiscal year in which funding is made 

8 available to carry out projects under the program, 

9 and every 5 years thereafter, the Secretary concerned 

10 shall submit to the congressional committees a report 

11 on the program, including an assessment of whether, 

12 and to what extent, the program is fulfilling the pur13 poses of this section. 

14 (f) LIMITATIONS.— 

15 (1) TOTAL FUNDING.—The Secretary concerned 

16 shall not provide more than $20,000,000 in total 

17 funding for projects under the program in any fiscal 

18 year. 

19 (2) PROJECT SIZE LIMITATION.—The Secretary 

20 concerned shall not provide more than $1,000,000 for 

21 any 1 project under the program in any fiscal year. 

22 (3) PROJECT SUNSET.—The Secretary concerned 

23 shall not provide funding for a project under the pro24 gram for a period of more than 10 fiscal years. 


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1 (4) PROJECT CANCELLATION.—The Secretary 

2 concerned shall cease funding any project under the 

3 program that, for 3 consecutive years, fails to meet 

4 the annual accomplishment targets set under sub5 section (b)(3)(F). 

6 (g) FUNDING.—Of the amounts made available under 

7 section 102(a), the Secretary concerned may use to carry 

8 out this section not more than $10,000,000 for each of fiscal 

9 years 2025 through 2034. 

10 TITLE II—FACILITATING IMPLE11 MENTATION AND OUTREACH 

12 SEC. 201. COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS AND CONTRACTS. 

13 (a) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this sec14 tion, the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means— 

15 (1) a State; 

16 (2) an Indian Tribe; 

17 (3) a county or municipal government; 

18 (4) a fire district; 

19 (5) a nongovernmental organization; and 

20 (6) a private entity. 

21 (b) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary concerned may 

22 enter into a cooperative agreement or contract with an eli23 gible entity to authorize the eligible entity to coordinate, 

24 plan, or conduct a prescribed fire on Federal land in acVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:40 Nov 22, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00067 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S4424.RS S4424

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1 cordance with other applicable laws, regulations, and land 

2 management plans. 

3 (c) SUBCONTRACTS.—The Secretary concerned may 

4 authorize a State, an Indian Tribe, or a county that enters 

5 into a cooperative agreement or contract under subsection 

6 (b) to enter into a subcontract to conduct a prescribed fire 

7 on Federal land pursuant to that cooperative agreement or 

8 contract, subject to any other terms and conditions that the 

9 Secretary concerned determines to be appropriate. 

10 (d) LONG-TERM CONTRACTS.—A cooperative agree11 ment or contract with an eligible entity under subsection 

12 (b) may authorize the eligible entity to conduct a series of 

13 prescribed fires on Federal land for a period of not longer 

14 than 10 years. 

15 SEC. 202. HUMAN RESOURCES. 

16 (a) PRESCRIBED FIRE WORKFORCE.— 

17 (1) INCREASING WORKFORCE RETENTION.— 

18 (A) HAZARD PAY.— 

19 (i) IN GENERAL.—Each Federal em20 ployee in any classification series, as identi21 fied by the Secretaries, shall be entitled to 

22 be paid the appropriate differential under 

23 subsection (d) of section 5545 of title 5, 

24 United States Code, as if such employee was 

25 covered by such subsection, when such emVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:40 Nov 22, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00068 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S4424.RS S4424

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1 ployee carries out work directly related to 

2 the ignition, management, and control of a 

3 prescribed fire. 

4 (ii) REGULATIONS.—The Director of 

5 the Office of Personnel Management shall 

6 prescribe regulations to carry out this sub7 paragraph. 

8 (B) INCENTIVE PAYMENTS FOR FUELS AS9 SIGNMENTS.—The Secretaries shall submit to the 

10 congressional committees a joint report describ11 ing mechanisms to attract and retain a skilled 

12 fuels workforce, including pay incentives that 

13 would account for and offset the more competi14 tive pay options offered through wildfire suppres15 sion assignments. 

16 (2) DEDICATED PRESCRIBED FIRE TASK

17 FORCES.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries shall— 

19 (i) not later than 180 days after the 

20 date of enactment of this Act, establish at 

21 least 1 multiparty task force of Federal em22 ployees and non-Federal entities within 

23 each Geographic Area Coordination Center 

24 to plan, lead, and support prescribed fire 

25 across ownership boundaries that are priorVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:40 Nov 22, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00069 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S4424.RS S4424

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1 ities at the landscape, region, State, or Fed2 eral level; and 

3 (ii) support each task force established 

4 under clause (i) by assigning a dedicated 

5 Federal employee— 

6 (I) to aid necessary administra7 tive functions relating to partnership 

8 agreements; and 

9 (II) to coordinate prescribed fire 

10 across ownership boundaries. 

11 (B) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.—The Sec12 retaries may enter into 1 or more cooperative 

13 agreements to carry out this paragraph. 

14 (3) CONVERSION OF SEASONAL FIREFIGHTERS TO

15 PERMANENT EMPLOYEES.—The Secretaries may non16 competitively convert a Federal seasonal employee to 

17 a Federal permanent employee if— 

18 (A) the listed job duties of the employee in19 clude wildland firefighting; 

20 (B) the employee received a rating of at 

21 least ‘‘Fully Successful’’ in each of the perform22 ance appraisals of the employee for the 3 most 

23 recent seasons of Federal employment of the em24 ployee; and 


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1 (C) the job duties and performance stand2 ards of the position into which the permanent 

3 employee converts emphasize implementing pre4 scribed fires. 

5 (4) EMPLOYMENT OF FORMERLY INCARCERATED

6 INDIVIDUALS.— 

7 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries, in con8 sultation with the Attorney General and State 

9 departments of corrections, shall seek to provide 

10 career pathways, training, and wraparound sup11 port services, including through partnerships 

12 with the Corps Network, to individuals described 

13 in subparagraph (B) to work as prescribed fire 

14 practitioners. 

15 (B) INDIVIDUALS DESCRIBED.—An indi16 vidual referred to in subparagraph (A) is an in17 dividual that— 

18 (i) has been convicted in any court of 

19 a criminal offense, other than arson or a 

20 violent crime (as defined by the Secretaries, 

21 in consultation with the Attorney General 

22 and State departments of corrections), and 

23 was sentenced to a term of imprisonment 

24 for that offense; and 


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1 (ii) during the term of imprisonment 

2 described in clause (i), served on a wildland 

3 firefighting crew or received other com4 parable training. 

5 (5) UNDERREPRESENTED EMPLOYEES.—The 

6 Secretaries shall support the development and partici7 pation of underrepresented groups, as determined by 

8 the Secretaries, in the wildland fire workforce, includ9 ing by fostering leadership opportunities, mentorship 

10 networks, and training. 

11 (6) VETERANS CREWS.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries, in con13 sultation with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 

14 shall seek— 

15 (i) to provide a career pathway to in16 dividuals described in subparagraph (B) to 

17 work as prescribed fire practitioners; and 

18 (ii) to establish crews composed pre19 dominantly of veterans to conduct pre20 scribed fires. 

21 (B) INDIVIDUALS DESCRIBED.—An indi22 vidual referred to in subparagraph (A) is an in23 dividual who— 

24 (i) served in the active military, naval, 

25 or air service; and 


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1 (ii) was discharged or released under 

2 conditions other than dishonorable. 

3 (b) ADDITIONAL TRAINING CENTERS.—Subject to the 

4 availability of appropriations, not later than 2 years after 

5 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in coopera6 tion with the Secretary of Agriculture (and the Secretary 

7 of Defense in the case of a center located on a military in8 stallation), shall— 

9 (1) establish, operate, and facilitate a prescribed 

10 fire training program or center that offers training in 

11 prescribed fire within each Geographic Area Coordi12 nation Center region where such a program or center 

13 does not exist on the date of enactment of this Act; 

14 and 

15 (2) support the establishment of an Indigenous16 led prescribed fire and cultural burning training cen17 ter operated by an Indian Tribe or partnership of In18 dian Tribes. 

19 (c) COMPETENCIES FOR FIREFIGHTERS.—The Secre20 taries, in coordination with the Fire Executive Council, 

21 shall task the National Wildfire Coordinating Group with 

22 the duty to adjust training requirements to obtain a certifi23 cation to serve in a supervisory role for a prescribed fire 

24 and any other positions determined to be necessary by the 

25 Secretaries— 


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1 (1) in order to reduce the time required to obtain 

2 such a certification; and 

3 (2) such that significant experience, gained ex4 clusively during a prescribed fire, is required to ob5 tain such a certification. 

6 (d) ENHANCING INTEROPERABILITY BETWEEN FED7 ERAL AND NON-FEDERAL PRACTITIONERS.— 

8 (1) QUALIFICATION DATABASES AND DISPATCH

9 SYSTEMS.—The Secretaries shall establish a collabo10 rative process to create mechanisms for non-Federal11 agency fire practitioners to be included in prescribed 

12 fire and wildfire resource ordering and reimburse13 ment processes. 

14 (2) PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS.—The Secre15 taries shall— 

16 (A) develop partnership agreements for pre17 scribed fire with all relevant State, Federal, 

18 Tribal, university, and nongovernmental entities 

19 that choose to be included in resource ordering 

20 and reimbursement processes under paragraph 

21 (1); 

22 (B) create agreements and structures nec23 essary to include non-Federal-agency and other 

24 nontraditional partners in direct work with Fed25 eral agencies to address prescribed fires; and 


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1 (C) treat any prescribed fire practitioner 

2 meeting the National Wildfire Coordinating 

3 Group standards as eligible to be included in 

4 statewide participating agreements. 

5 SEC. 203. LIABILITY OF PRESCRIBED FIRE MANAGERS. 

6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 (1) COVERED ACTIVITY.—The term ‘‘covered ac8 tivity’’ means an activity carried out on Federal land 

9 directly related to a wildland fire, prescribed fire, or 

10 prescribed fire with cultural objectives in the course of 

11 executing a Federal action. 

12 (2) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered enti13 ty’’ means a non-Federal entity engaged in a covered 

14 activity, if that non-Federal entity is acting— 

15 (A) under the direct supervision of a Fed16 eral employee; and 

17 (B) within the scope of a contract or agree18 ment in carrying out that covered activity. 

19 (3) COVERED LAW.—The term ‘‘covered law’’ 

20 means a State law that establishes the standard of 

21 care in a civil suit against a certified prescribed fire 

22 manager for an escaped prescribed fire to be ‘‘gross 

23 negligence’’, if the certified prescribed fire manager— 

24 (A) obtained a permit for the prescribed 

25 fire; 


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1 (B) conducted the prescribed fire consistent 

2 with a written prescribed fire plan; 

3 (C) was at the site of the prescribed fire for 

4 the duration of the prescribed fire; 

5 (D) ensured adequate personnel, equipment, 

6 and firebreaks were in place during the pre7 scribed fire, in accordance with the written pre8 scribed fire plan; and 

9 (E) complied with any applicable Federal, 

10 Tribal, State, and local laws. 

11 (b) MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of 

13 appropriations, the Secretary may enter into a 

14 memorandum of agreement with the National Gov15 ernors’ Association to host a conference, at which gov16 ernors can meet to discuss the benefits of addressing 

17 liability protection and possible incentives for States 

18 to enact a covered law. 

19 (2) FUNDING.—The Secretary may provide not 

20 more than $1,000,000 under the memorandum of 

21 agreement under paragraph (1). 

22 (c) INDEMNITY OF FEDERAL AND TRIBAL EMPLOY23 EES.—The Secretaries, in coordination with the Attorney 

24 General, shall develop a voluntary training course for em25 ployees involved in covered activities describing— 


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1 (1) liability protections afforded to those employ2 ees when acting within the scope of their employment; 

3 (2) the limits on any liability protections under 

4 paragraph (1); and 

5 (3) reimbursements available for qualified em6 ployees for professional liability insurance under sec7 tion 636 of division A of Public Law 104–208 (5 

8 U.S.C. prec. 5941 note). 

9 (d) INDEMNITY OF OTHER COOPERATORS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the date of en11 actment of this Act, a covered entity shall be consid12 ered an employee of the Federal Government for pur13 poses of chapter 171 of title 28, United States Code 

14 (commonly known as the ‘‘Federal Tort Claims Act’’), 

15 while that covered entity is engaged in covered activi16 ties. 

17 (2) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 1 year after the 

18 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretaries, in con19 sultation with the Attorney General, shall issue guid20 ance on the necessary provisions and implementation 

21 requirements for contracts or agreements that would 

22 extend liability protections to covered entities under 

23 paragraph (1). 

24 (3) REIMBURSEMENT.—Beginning in the first 

25 fiscal year that begins after the date of enactment of 


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1 this Act, the Secretaries shall request, through annual 

2 appropriations, funds sufficient to reimburse the 

3 Treasury for any claims paid in the prior fiscal year 

4 pursuant to paragraph (1). 

5 (e) EFFECT.—Nothing in this section shall be con6 strued to limit or otherwise affect— 

7 (1) the application of any statutory or judicial 

8 immunity to Federal employees; 

9 (2) the application of the chapter 171 of title 28, 

10 United States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Federal 

11 Tort Claims Act’’) to Federal employees; or 

12 (3) the application of section 314 of Public Law 

13 101–512 (25 U.S.C. 5321 note). 

14 SEC. 204. PRESCRIBED FIRE CLAIMS FUND STUDY. 

15 (a) COMMISSIONING OF STUDY.—Not later than 1 year 

16 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretaries, in 

17 coordination with the Director of the Office of Management 

18 and Budget, shall complete a study of the feasibility, design, 

19 and effectiveness of a national prescribed fire claims fund 

20 (or similar mechanism) to increase the pace and scale of 

21 prescribed fire across all lands by multiple users and for 

22 multiple objectives. 

23 (b) ELEMENTS.—The study required under subsection 

24 (a) shall include an analysis of the following: 


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1 (1) The feasibility at the national level of a 

2 claims fund or other mechanism to supplement, re3 place, or backstop private insurance for prescribed 

4 fire and adverse smoke impacts. 

5 (2) The design and administration of such a 

6 fund. 

7 (3) The effectiveness of a national claims fund or 

8 other mechanism to supplement, replace, or backstop 

9 private market insurance for non-Federal or State 

10 government prescribed fire practitioners. 

11 (4) The eligibility requirements for submission of 

12 claims to such a fund with an emphasis on equity 

13 and inclusivity of all types of prescribed fire practi14 tioners and methods of practice. 

15 (5)(A) The role and influence of State liability 

16 laws on prescribed fire practitioner liability; 

17 (B) the impact of State liability laws on the 

18 availability and affordability of insurance for pre19 scribed fire; and 

20 (C) how States may be incentivized to enact laws 

21 clearly establishing and reducing practitioner liabil22 ity for civil suits and suppression and investigation 

23 cost recovery. 

24 SEC. 205. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW. 

25 (a) SMOKE MANAGEMENT AGENCIES.— 


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1 (1) POLICY.—The Secretaries shall ensure that 

2 policies, training, and programs of the Secretaries are 

3 consistent with this subsection— 

4 (A) to facilitate greater use of prescribed 

5 fire; and 

6 (B) to address public health and safety, in7 cluding impacts from smoke from wildfires and 

8 prescribed fires. 

9 (2) COORDINATION AMONG FEDERAL, TRIBAL, 

10 AND STATE AIR QUALITY AGENCIES AND FEDERAL, 

11 TRIBAL, AND STATE LAND MANAGEMENT AGENCIES.— 

12 To facilitate the use of prescribed fire on Federal, 

13 State, Tribal, and private land, the Administrator of 

14 the Environmental Protection Agency, in cooperation 

15 with Federal and State land management agencies, 

16 shall coordinate with State, Tribal, and local air 

17 quality agencies that regulate smoke under the Clean 

18 Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.)— 

19 (A) to the maximum extent practicable, to 

20 provide State, Tribal, and local air quality 

21 agencies with guidance, data, imagery, or mod22 eling to support the development of exceptional 

23 event demonstrations in accordance with sections 

24 50.14 and 51.930 of title 40, Code of Federal 

25 Regulations (or successor regulations); 


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1 (B) to develop archives and automated tools 

2 to provide State, Tribal, and local air quality 

3 agencies with the data, imagery, and modeling 

4 under subparagraph (A); 

5 (C) to develop decision support tools for 

6 State, Tribal, and local air quality agencies to 

7 assist in determining whether an exceptional 

8 event demonstration, if the Administrator of the 

9 Environmental Protection Agency concurs with 

10 such demonstration, would have regulatory sig11 nificance; 

12 (D) to provide technical assistance, best 

13 practices, or templates to States, Indian Tribes, 

14 and local governments for the use of the State, 

15 Indian Tribe, or local government in approving 

16 the use of prescribed fire under a State, Tribal, 

17 or local government smoke management pro18 gram; 

19 (E)(i) to promote basic smoke management 

20 practices and other best practices to protect the 

21 public from wildland fire smoke; 

22 (ii) to disseminate information about basic 

23 smoke management practices; 

24 (iii) to educate landowners that use pre25 scribed fire about the importance of— 


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1 (I) using basic smoke management 

2 practices; and 

3 (II) including basic smoke manage4 ment practices as a component of a pre5 scribed fire plan; and 

6 (iv) to share information with the public, in 

7 coordination with other public health agencies, 

8 about measures that individuals can take to pro9 tect themselves from wildland fire smoke; and 

10 (F) to develop guidance and tools to stream11 line the demonstration of a clear causal relation12 ship between prescribed fire smoke and a related 

13 exceedance of a national ambient air quality 

14 standard. 

15 (3) EXCEPTIONAL EVENT DEMONSTRATIONS.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The appropriate State 

17 or Tribal air quality agency (including any 

18 local air quality agency delegated authority by a 

19 State) may develop and submit to the Adminis20 trator of the Environmental Protection Agency 

21 an exceptional event demonstration in accord22 ance with sections 50.14 and 51.930 of title 40, 

23 Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regula24 tions), for a prescribed fire. 


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1 (B) APPROVAL.—The Administrator of the 

2 Environmental Protection Agency shall concur 

3 with an exceptional event demonstration sub4 mitted under subparagraph (A) in accordance 

5 with the requirements of sections 50.14 and 

6 51.930 of title 40, Code of Federal Regulations 

7 (or successor regulations), including that the ap8 plicable prescribed fire was not reasonably con9 trollable or preventable and that the applicable 

10 prescribed fire was a human activity unlikely to 

11 recur, if the State or Tribal air quality agency 

12 demonstrates in that exceptional event dem13 onstration that, at a minimum, the applicable 

14 prescribed fire was— 

15 (i) conducted in accordance with a 

16 State or Tribal smoke management program 

17 or basic smoke management practices; and 

18 (ii) consistent with a land or resource 

19 management plan with a stated objective to 

20 establish, restore, or maintain a sustainable 

21 and resilient ecosystem. 

22 (C) DEMONSTRATION ASSISTANCE FOR FED23 ERAL LAND.—For any prescribed fire conducted 

24 on Federal land, the Secretary concerned— 


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1 (i) shall assist with the development of 

2 an exceptional event demonstration under 

3 subparagraph (A) on request of a State or 

4 Tribal air quality agency; and 

5 (ii) may develop and submit an excep6 tional event demonstration under subpara7 graph (A) with the concurrence of the appli8 cable State or Tribal air quality agency. 

9 (4) PROGRAMS AND RESEARCH.—To address the 

10 public health and safety risk of the expanded use of 

11 prescribed fire under this Act, the Secretaries, in co12 ordination with the Administrator of the Environ13 mental Protection Agency and the Director of the 

14 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall con15 duct research to improve or develop— 

16 (A) wildland fire smoke prediction models; 

17 (B) smoke impact display tools for the pub18 lic and decisionmakers; 

19 (C) appropriate, cost-effective, and con20 sistent strategies to mitigate the impacts of 

21 smoke from prescribed fire on nearby commu22 nities; 

23 (D) consistent nationally and scientifically 

24 supported messages regarding personal protec25 tion equipment for the public; and 


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1 (E) prescribed fire activity tracking and 

2 emission inventory systems for planning and 

3 post-treatment accountability. 

4 (b) DEVELOPMENT OF LANDSCAPE-SCALE FEDERAL

5 PRESCRIBED FIRE PLANS.— 

6 (1) INCLUSION OF LANDSCAPE-SCALE PRE7 SCRIBED FIRE PLANS.—The Secretary concerned 

8 shall, with respect to units of the National Forest Sys9 tem and Bureau of Land Management districts with 

10 existing prescribed fire programs— 

11 (A) not later than 1 year after the date of 

12 enactment of this Act, determine which of those 

13 units or districts have landscape-scale prescribed 

14 fire plans; and 

15 (B) not later than 2 years after the date of 

16 enactment of this Act— 

17 (i) determine whether each plan de18 scribed in subparagraph (A) requires revi19 sion; 

20 (ii) establish a schedule for the revision 

21 of each plan described in subparagraph (A) 

22 that requires revision; and 

23 (iii) develop landscape-scale prescribed 

24 fire plans for any units or districts that do 


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1 not have landscape-scale prescribed fire 

2 plans. 

3 (2) ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE.—In carrying 

4 out paragraph (1), the Secretary concerned shall— 

5 (A) comply with— 

6 (i) the National Environmental Policy 

7 Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.); 

8 (ii) the Endangered Species Act of 

9 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); 

10 (iii) division A of subtitle III of title 

11 54, United States Code; and 

12 (iv) any other applicable laws; and 

13 (B) consider the site-specific environmental 

14 consequences of the landscape-scale prescribed 

15 fire decisions under this subsection. 

16 (3) COLLABORATIVE DEVELOPMENT.—In car17 rying out paragraph (1), the Secretary concerned 

18 shall collaborate with diverse actors from academia, 

19 the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management 

20 research and development, nongovernmental organiza21 tions, cultural fire practitioners, and other entities, as 

22 determined appropriate by the Secretary concerned. 

23 (4) CONSULTATION WITH INDIAN TRIBES.—The 

24 Secretary concerned shall engage in government-toVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:40 Nov 22, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00086 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S4424.RS S4424

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1 government consultation with Indian Tribes in com2 plying with this subsection. 

3 (5) REPORTS.—Not later than 1 year after the 

4 date of enactment of this Act, and annually there5 after, the Secretary concerned shall submit to Con6 gress a report on the progress of the Secretary con7 cerned with respect to carrying out this subsection. 

8 SEC. 206. PRESCRIBED FIRE EDUCATION PROGRAM. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries shall carry out a 

10 national prescribed fire education program focused on fire 

11 ecology and prescribed fire planning and implementation. 

12 (b) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—A prescribed fire education 

13 program authorized under subsection (a) may include— 

14 (1) public service advertisements; 

15 (2) the use of social media; 

16 (3) campaign and educational activities and 

17 materials; 

18 (4) commercial licensing; 

19 (5) character images and appearances; and 

20 (6) awards and recognition. 


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1 TITLE III—REPORTING 

2 SEC. 301. ANNUAL REPORTS TO THE NATIONAL FIRE PLAN3 NING AND OPERATIONS DATABASE. 

4 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to ensure 

5 an accurate reporting of annual prescribed fire accomplish6 ments in the United States. 

7 (b) COST-SHARE.—Subject to the availability of ap8 propriations, the Secretary may provide financial assist9 ance to States to pay a portion of the costs associated with 

10 annually reporting prescribed fire accomplishments. 

11 (c) ELIGIBILITY FOR FUNDS.—If, by December 31 of 

12 each year, a State has not reported to the National Fire 

13 Planning and Operations Database (or a successor data14 base), at a minimum, the number of acres on which 

15 uncharacteristic wildfire risk is effectively mitigated using 

16 prescribed fire in the State, the State shall not be eligible 

17 to receive any amounts made available under this Act for 

18 the previous fiscal year. 

19 SEC. 302. ANNUAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT. 

20 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 

21 this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretaries shall each 

22 submit to the congressional committees a report on the ac23 tivities carried out under this Act. 


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Calendar No. 624 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4424 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of the Interior and the SecIndigenous practitioners, and for other purposes. standing use of cultural burning by Tribes and States, to acknowledge and support the long- tional Forest System in the western United Service, with an emphasis on units of the Na- the Department of the Interior or the Forest the use of prescribed fire on land managed by retary of Agriculture to encourage and expand 

NOVEMBER 21, 2024 

Reported with an amendment 


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