118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8790 
AN ACT 
To expedite under the National Environmental Policy Act 
of 1969 and improve forest management activities on 
National Forest System lands, on public lands under 
the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management, 
and on Tribal lands to return resilience to overgrown, 
fire-prone forested lands, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Fix Our Forests Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Definitions. 
TITLE I—LANDSCAPE-SCALE RESTORATION 
Subtitle A—Addressing Emergency Wildfire Risks in High Priority Firesheds 
Sec. 101. Designation of fireshed management areas. 
Sec. 102. Fireshed center. 
Sec. 103. Fireshed registry. 
Sec. 104. Shared stewardship. 
Sec. 105. Fireshed assessments. 
Sec. 106. Emergency fireshed management. 
Sec. 107. Sunset. 
Subtitle B—Expanding Collaborative Tools to Reduce Wildfire Risk and 
Improve Forest Health 
Sec. 111. Modification of the treatment of certain revenue and payments under 
good neighbor agreements. 
Sec. 112. Fixing stewardship end result contracting. 
Sec. 113. Intra-agency strike teams. 
Sec. 114. Locally-led restoration. 
Sec. 115. Joint Chiefs landscape restoration partnership program. 
Sec. 116. Collaborative forest landscape restoration program. 
Sec. 117. Utilizing grazing for wildfire risk reduction. 
Sec. 118. Program to support priority reforestation and restoration projects of 
Department of the Interior. 
Subtitle C—Litigation Reform 
Sec. 121. Commonsense litigation reform. 
Sec. 122. Consultation on forest plans. 
TITLE II—PROTECTING COMMUNITIES IN THE WILDLAND-URBAN 
INTERFACE 
Sec. 201. Community wildfire risk reduction program. 
Sec. 202. Community wildfire defense research program. 
Sec. 203. Vegetation management, facility inspection, and operation and main-
tenance relating to electric transmission and distribution facil-
ity rights-of-way. 
Sec. 204. Categorical exclusion for electric utility lines rights-of-way. 
Sec. 205. Seeds of success. 
TITLE III—TRANSPARENCY AND TECHNOLOGY
Sec. 301. Biochar innovations and opportunities for conservation, health, and 
advancements in research. 
Sec. 302. Accurate hazardous fuels reduction reports. 
Sec. 303. Public-private wildfire technology deployment and demonstration 
partnership. 
Sec. 304. GAO study on Forest Service policies. 
Sec. 305. Forest Service Western headquarters study. 
Sec. 306. Keeping forest plans current and monitored. 
Sec. 307. Container Aerial Firefighting System (CAFFS). 
Sec. 308. Study on pine beetle infestation. 
TITLE IV—ENSURING CASUALTY ASSISTANCE FOR OUR 
FIREFIGHTERS 
Sec. 401. Wildland Fire Management Casualty Assistance Program. 
TITLE V—WHITE OAK RESILIENCE 
Sec. 501. White Oak Restoration Initiative Coalition. 
Sec. 502. Forest Service pilot program. 
Sec. 503. Department of the Interior white oak review and restoration. 
Sec. 504. White oak regeneration and upland oak habitat. 
Sec. 505. Tree nursery shortages. 
Sec. 506. White oak research. 
Sec. 507. USDA formal initiative. 
Sec. 508. Authorities. 
TITLE VI—EXPANSION OF PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS 
UNDER WATER SOURCE PROTECTION PROGRAM 
Sec. 601. Water source protection program. 
Sec. 602. Watershed condition framework technical corrections. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 
the Director of the Fireshed Center appointed under 
section 102. 
(2) FIRESHED.—The term ‘‘fireshed’’ means a 
landscape-scale area that faces similar wildfire 
threat where a response strategy could influence the 
wildfire outcome.
(3) FIRESHED
MANAGEMENT
PROJECT.—The 
term ‘‘fireshed management project’’ means a 
project under section 106. 
(4) FIRESHED REGISTRY.—The term ‘‘Fireshed 
Registry’’ means the fireshed registry established 
under section 103. 
(5) FOREST
PLAN.—The term ‘‘forest plan’’ 
means— 
(A) a land use plan prepared by the Bu-
reau of Land Management for public lands pur-
suant to section 202 of the Federal Land Policy 
and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 
1712); 
(B) a land and resource management plan 
prepared by the Forest Service for a unit of the 
National Forest System pursuant to section 6 
of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Re-
sources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 
1604); or 
(C) a forest management plan (as defined 
in section 304 of the National Indian Forests 
Resources Management Act (25 U.S.C. 3104)) 
with respect to Indian forest land or rangeland. 
(6) GOVERNOR.—The term ‘‘Governor’’ means 
the Governor or any other appropriate executive offi-
cial of an affected State or Indian Tribe or the Com-
monwealth of Puerto Rico. 
(7) HAZARDOUS FUELS MANAGEMENT ACTIVI-
TIES.—The term ‘‘hazardous fuels management ac-
tivities’’ means any vegetation management activities 
(or combination thereof) that reduce the risk of 
wildfire, including mechanical thinning, mastication, 
prescribed burning, cultural burning (as determined 
by the applicable Indian Tribe), timber harvest, and 
grazing. 
(8) HFRA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘at-risk com-
munity’’, ‘‘community wildfire protection plan’’, and 
‘‘wildland-urban interface’’ have the meanings given 
such terms, respectively, in section 101 of the 
Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 
6511). 
(9) INDIAN FOREST LAND OR RANGELAND.— 
The term ‘‘Indian forest land or rangeland’’ means 
land that— 
(A) is held in trust by, or with a restriction 
against alienation by, the United States for an 
Indian Tribe or a member of an Indian Tribe; 
and 
(B)(i)(I) is Indian forest land (as defined 
in section 304 of the National Indian Forest
Resources Management Act (25 U.S.C. 3103)); 
or 
(II) has a cover of grasses, 
brush, or any similar vegetation; or 
(ii) formerly had a forest cover or veg-
etative cover that is capable of restoration. 
(10) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 
has the meaning given that term in section 4 of the 
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 
Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 
(11) NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM LANDS.—The 
term ‘‘National Forest System lands’’ has the mean-
ing given the term in section 11(a) of the Forest 
and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act 
of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609). 
(12) PUBLIC LANDS.—The term ‘‘public lands’’ 
has the meaning given that term in section 103 of 
the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 
1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702), except that the term in-
cludes Coos Bay Wagon Road Grant lands and Or-
egon and California Railroad Grant lands. 
(13) 
RELEVANT
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘relevant Congressional Commit-
tees’’ means—
(A) the Committees on Natural Resources 
and Agriculture of the House of Representa-
tives; and 
(B) the Committees on Energy and Nat-
ural Resources and Agriculture, Nutrition, and 
Forestry of the Senate. 
(14) RESPONSIBLE OFFICIAL.—The term ‘‘re-
sponsible official’’ means an employee of the Depart-
ment of the Interior or Forest Service who has the 
authority to make and implement a decision on a 
proposed action. 
(15) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 
means each of— 
(A) the Secretary of the Interior; and 
(B) the Secretary of Agriculture. 
(16) 
SECRETARY.—The 
term 
‘‘Secretary’’ 
means the Secretary of Agriculture. 
(17) 
SECRETARY
CONCERNED.—The 
term 
‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means— 
(A) the Secretary of Agriculture, with re-
spect to National Forest System lands; and 
(B) the Secretary of the Interior, with re-
spect to public lands.
(18) SPECIAL
DISTRICT.—The term ‘‘special 
district’’ means a political subdivision of a State 
that— 
(A) has significant budgetary autonomy or 
control; 
(B) was created by or pursuant to the laws 
of the State for the purpose of performing a 
limited and specific governmental or proprietary 
function; and 
(C) is distinct from any other local govern-
ment unit within the State. 
(19) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 
the several States, the District of Columbia, and 
each territory of the United States. 
TITLE I—LANDSCAPE-SCALE 
RESTORATION 
Subtitle A—Addressing Emergency 
Wildfire Risks in High Priority 
Firesheds 
SEC. 
101. 
DESIGNATION 
OF 
FIRESHED 
MANAGEMENT 
AREAS. 
(a) DESIGNATION
OF
FIRESHED
MANAGEMENT 
AREAS.— 
(1) INITIAL DESIGNATIONS.—For the period be-
ginning on the date of enactment of this Act and
ending on the date that is 5 years after the date of 
enactment of this Act, there are designated fireshed 
management areas, which— 
(A) shall be comprised of individual land-
scape-scale firesheds identified as being a high 
risk fireshed in the ‘‘Wildfire Crisis Strategy’’ 
published by the Forest Service in January 
2022; 
(B) shall be comprised of individual land-
scape-scale firesheds identified by the Secretary, 
in consultation with the Secretary of the Inte-
rior, as being in the top 20 percent of the 7,688 
firesheds published by the Rocky Mountain Re-
search Station of the Forest Service in 2019 for 
wildfire exposure based on the following cri-
teria— 
(i) 
wildfire 
exposure 
and 
cor-
responding risk to communities, including 
risk to structures and life; 
(ii) 
wildfire 
exposure 
and 
cor-
responding risk to municipal watersheds, 
including tribal water supplies and sys-
tems; and 
(iii) risk of forest conversion due to 
wildfire;
(C) shall not overlap with any other 
fireshed management areas; 
(D) may contain Federal and non-Federal 
land, including Indian forest lands or range-
lands; and 
(E) where the Secretary concerned shall 
carry out fireshed management projects. 
(2) FURTHER
FIRESHED
MANAGEMENT
AREA 
DESIGNATIONS.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—On the date that is 5 
years after the date of the enactment of this 
Act and every 5 years thereafter, the Secretary, 
in consultation with the Secretary of the Inte-
rior, shall submit to the relevant Congressional 
Committees an updated map of firesheds based 
on the Fireshed Registry maintained under sec-
tion 103. 
(B) DESIGNATION.—Not later than 60 
days after submitting an updated fireshed map 
under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall, 
based on such map, designate additional 
fireshed management areas that are identified 
as being in the top 20 percent of firesheds at 
risk of wildfire exposure based on the criteria