II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2650 

To provide mandatory funding for hazardous fuels reduction projects on 

certain Federal land, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 5, 2021 

Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. PADILLA, and Mrs. FEINSTEIN) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To provide mandatory funding for hazardous fuels reduction 

projects on certain Federal land, and for other purposes. 

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. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wildfire Resilient 

5 Communities Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FUNDING FOR HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION 

7 PROJECTS ON CERTAIN FEDERAL LAND. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 (1) AGENCY HEAD.—The term ‘‘agency head’’ 

10 means— 


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1 (A) the Director of the National Park 

2 Service; 

3 (B) the Chief of the Forest Service; 

4 (C) the Director of the Bureau of Land 

5 Management; 

6 (D) the Director of the United States Fish 

7 and Wildlife Service; and 

8 (E) the Director of the Bureau of Indian 

9 Affairs. 

10 (2) AT-RISK COMMUNITY; FIRE REGIME I; FIRE

11 REGIME II; FIRE REGIME III.—The terms ‘‘at-risk 

12 community’’, ‘‘fire regime I’’, ‘‘fire regime II’’, and 

13 ‘‘fire regime III’’ have the meanings given those 

14 terms in section 101 of the Healthy Forests Res15 toration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511). 

16 (3) COVERED LAND.—The term ‘‘covered land’’ 

17 means Federal land under the jurisdiction of the ap18 plicable agency head. 

19 (4) HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION

20 PROJECT.—The term ‘‘hazardous fuels reduction 

21 project’’ means the removal or modification of flam22 mable vegetation or woody debris through prescribed 

23 fire, thinning, brush removal, mastication, pruning, 

24 slash treatment, or a combination of those methods, 

25 on the condition that the method is ecologically apVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:52 Aug 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2650.IS S2650

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1 propriate, cost-effective, and selected on a site-spe2 cific basis. 

3 (b) HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION PROJECTS.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The agency heads shall 

5 carry out hazardous fuels reduction projects on cov6 ered land. 

7 (2) PROJECT PRIORITIES.—In carrying out 

8 paragraph (1), the agency heads shall prioritize haz9 ardous fuels reduction projects that are— 

10 (A) conducted in areas that— 

11 (i) are within or adjacent to— 

12 (I) at-risk communities; or 

13 (II) high-value watersheds; 

14 (ii) have very high wildfire hazard po15 tential; or 

16 (iii) are in fire regime I, fire regime 

17 II, or fire regime III; or 

18 (B) designed to integrate and simulta19 neously advance 2 or more of the goals estab20 lished in the report of the Secretary of Agri21 culture and the Secretary of the Interior enti22 tled ‘‘The National Strategy: the Final Phase of 

23 the Development of the National Cohesive 

24 Wildland Fire Management Strategy’’ and 

25 dated April 2014— 


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1 (i) to create fire-adapted communities; 

2 (ii) to restore and maintain resilient 

3 landscapes; and 

4 (iii) to achieve safe, effective fire re5 sponse. 

6 (c) FUNDING.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—On the first October 1 fol8 lowing the date of enactment of this Act, out of any 

9 funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 

10 the Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer to the 

11 agency heads, in accordance with an allocation for12 mula established by the Secretary of the Treasury, 

13 $30,000,000,000, to remain available until ex14 pended. 

15 (2) RECEIPT AND ACCEPTANCE.—The agency 

16 heads shall be entitled to receive, shall accept, and 

17 shall use to carry out this section the funds trans18 ferred under paragraph (1), without further appro19 priation. 

20 (3) ADMINISTRATIVE AND PLANNING COSTS.— 

21 Not more than 10 percent of funding made available 

22 under paragraph (1) may be used for administrative 

23 and planning costs. 


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1 SEC. 3. COMMUNITY PLANNING ASSISTANCE FOR AT-RISK 

2 COMMUNITIES. 

3 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 (1) AT-RISK COMMUNITY; COMMUNITY WILD5 FIRE PROTECTION PLAN.—The terms ‘‘at-risk com6 munity’’ and ‘‘community wildfire protection plan’’ 

7 have the meanings given those terms in section 101 

8 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 

9 U.S.C. 6511). 

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

11 means the following: 

12 (A) National Forest System land reserved 

13 from the public domain. 

14 (B) The following land administered by the 

15 Secretary of the Interior: 

16 (i) Public lands (as defined in section 

17 103 of the Federal Land Policy and Man18 agement Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702)). 

19 (ii) A unit of the National Park Sys20 tem. 

21 (iii) A unit of the National Wildlife 

22 Refuge System. 

23 (iv) Land held in trust for an Indian 

24 Tribe. 

25 (3) HAZARDOUS FUELS REDUCTION

26 PROJECT.—The term ‘‘hazardous fuels reduction 


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1 project’’ means the removal or modification of flam2 mable vegetation or woody debris through prescribed 

3 fire, thinning, brush removal, mastication, pruning, 

4 slash treatment, or a combination of those methods, 

5 on the condition that the method is ecologically ap6 propriate, cost-effective, and selected on a site-spe7 cific basis. 

8 (4) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 

9 has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 

10 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 

11 Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 

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

13 means the Secretary of the Interior and the Sec14 retary of Agriculture. 

15 (b) DEVELOPMENT OF MAP.—Not later than 180 

16 days after the date of enactment of this Act, and periodi17 cally thereafter, the Secretaries shall develop and publish 

18 a map depicting at-risk communities, including Tribal at19 risk communities. 

20 (c) PLANNING AND PREPARING AT-RISK COMMU21 NITIES FOR WILDFIRE.—Subject to the availability of ap22 propriations, the Secretaries shall provide financial and 

23 technical assistance to at-risk communities adjacent to 

24 Federal land, including through States, to assist the atVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:52 Aug 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2650.IS S2650

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1 risk communities in planning and preparing for wildfire, 

2 including— 

3 (1) cosponsoring and supporting the expansion 

4 of— 

5 (A) the Firewise USA Program; 

6 (B) the Ready, Set, Go program; 

7 (C) the Living with Wildfire program; or 

8 (D) programs similar to the programs re9 ferred to in subparagraphs (A) through (C) 

10 that are designed to advance fire-adapted com11 munities; 

12 (2) supporting the development, updating, and 

13 implementation of community wildfire protection 

14 plans; 

15 (3) carrying out risk assessments and creating 

16 maps that depict wildfire risk, investment scenarios, 

17 and tradeoffs to assist in planning for response and 

18 suppression resource needs and implementing haz19 ardous fuels reduction projects; 

20 (4) sharing costs to create defensible space for 

21 a distance of not less than 100 feet around a resi22 dence that was built before the date of enactment of 

23 this Act; and 


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1 (5) planning and implementing cross-boundary 

2 hazardous fuels reduction projects as identified in a 

3 community wildfire protection plan. 

4 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

5 authorized to be appropriated $1,000,000,000 to carry out 

6 this section for each fiscal year. 

7 SEC. 4. COLLABORATIVE FOREST LANDSCAPE RESTORA8 TION PROGRAM. 

9 (a) PROPOSAL SELECTION PROCESS.—Section 

10 4003(d) of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 

11 2009 (16 U.S.C. 7303(d)) is amended by striking para12 graph (3) and inserting the following: 

13 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may select 

14 not more than the number of proposals under para15 graph (1) that the Secretary determines are likely to 

16 receive adequate funding.’’. 

17 (b) PERMANENT REAUTHORIZATION.—Section 

18 4003(f)(6) of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act 

19 of 2009 (16 U.S.C. 7303(f)(6)) is amended by striking 

20 ‘‘$80,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2023’’ 

21 and inserting ‘‘$100,000,000 for fiscal year 2022 and 

22 each fiscal year thereafter’’. 

23 SEC. 5. COUNTY STEWARDSHIP FUND. 

24 Section 604 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act 

25 of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591c) is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating subsection (j) as sub2 section (k); and 

3 (2) by inserting after subsection (i) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(j) COUNTY STEWARDSHIP FUND.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the 

7 Treasury of the United States a fund to be known 

8 as the ‘County Stewardship Fund’ (referred to in 

9 this section as the ‘Fund’), to be administered by 

10 the Secretary. 

11 ‘‘(2) DEPOSITS.—Each fiscal year, an amount 

12 equal to 25 percent of the amounts collected as re13 ceipts under subsection (e) during the preceding fis14 cal year shall be deposited in the Fund. 

15 ‘‘(3) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts in the Fund 

16 shall— 

17 ‘‘(A) be used only for purposes described 

18 in paragraph (4); and 

19 ‘‘(B) remain available until expended. 

20 ‘‘(4) PURPOSES.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each fiscal year, the 

22 Chief or the Director, as applicable, shall dis23 tribute from amounts in the Fund to each 

24 county in which a contract under subsection (b) 

25 was carried out on Federal land in the county 


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1 during the preceding fiscal year a payment of 

2 an amount equal to 25 percent of the receipts 

3 generated from that contract. 

4 ‘‘(B) USE OF FUNDS.—A county receiving 

5 a payment under subparagraph (A) may use 

6 the payment for any governmental purposes.’’. 

Æ 


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