I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4664 
To amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to establish 
emergency fireshed management areas, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 22, 2021 
Mr. MOORE of Utah (for himself, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. WESTERMAN, Mr. 
BENTZ, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. OBERNOLTE, Mr. 
ROSENDALE, Mr. TIFFANY, Mrs. BOEBERT, Mr. STAUBER, and Mr. 
SCHRADER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Re-
sources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 
to establish emergency fireshed management areas, 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. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Forest Improvements 
through Research and Emergency Stewardship for 
Healthy Ecosystem Development and Sustainability Act’’ 
or the ‘‘FIRESHEDS Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. EMERGENCY FIRESHED MANAGEMENT. 
Title VI of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 
2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591 et seq.) is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 607. EMERGENCY FIRESHED MANAGEMENT. 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF FIRESHED MANAGEMENT 
AREAS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 
‘‘(A) JOINT AGREEMENTS.—Not later than 
90 days after receiving a request from a Gov-
ernor of a State, the Secretary shall enter into 
an agreement with such Governor to jointly— 
‘‘(i) designate 1 or more fireshed 
management areas within such State; and 
‘‘(ii) conduct fireshed management 
projects in accordance with subsection (c) 
on such fireshed management areas. 
‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL
FIRESHED
MANAGE-
MENT AREAS.—With respect to an agreement 
with a Governor of a State under subparagraph 
(A), the Secretary, if requested by such Gov-
ernor, may— 
‘‘(i) 
designate 
additional 
fireshed 
management areas under such agreement; 
and 
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‘‘(ii) update such agreement to ad-
dress new wildfire threats. 
‘‘(C) 
SHARED
STEWARDSHIP.—A 
pre-
viously signed shared stewardship agreement 
between a Governor of a State and the Sec-
retary (or an update or successor agreement to 
such shared stewardship agreement) may be 
treated as an agreement under subparagraph 
(A) if such Governor approves such treatment. 
‘‘(2) DESIGNATION OF FIRESHED MANAGEMENT 
AREAS.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—A fireshed manage-
ment area designated under an agreement 
under paragraph (1)— 
‘‘(i) shall be— 
‘‘(I) a landscape-scale area; and 
‘‘(II) identified on the date of 
such designation as a fireshed ranked 
in the top 10 percent of wildfire expo-
sure, as determined by the most re-
cently published models of fireshed 
risk exposure published by the Forest 
Service; 
‘‘(ii) may not overlap with any other 
fireshed management area; and 
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‘‘(iii) may contain Federal and non- 
Federal land. 
‘‘(B) APPLICABILITY OF NEPA.—The des-
ignation of a fireshed management area under 
an agreement under paragraph (1) shall not be 
subject to the requirements of the National En-
vironmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 
4321 et seq.). 
‘‘(b) 
STEWARDSHIP
AND
FIRESHED
ASSESS-
MENTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 
after entering into an agreement with a Governor of 
a State under subsection (a)(1), the Secretary and 
such Governor shall, with respect to the fireshed 
management areas designated under such agree-
ment, jointly conduct a stewardship and fireshed as-
sessment that— 
‘‘(A) identifies— 
‘‘(i) using the best available data, 
wildfire exposure risks within each such 
fireshed management area, including sce-
nario planning and wildfire hazard map-
ping and models; and 
‘‘(ii) each at-risk community within 
each fireshed management area; 
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‘‘(B) identifies potential fireshed manage-
ment projects to be carried out in such fireshed 
management areas, giving priority— 
‘‘(i) primarily, to projects with the 
purpose of reducing threats to public 
health and safety from catastrophic wild-
fire; and 
‘‘(ii) secondarily, to projects with the 
purpose of protecting— 
‘‘(I) critical infrastructure; 
‘‘(II) wildlife habitats; 
‘‘(III) watersheds or improving 
water yield; or 
‘‘(IV) any combination of pur-
poses described in subclauses (I) 
through (III); 
‘‘(C) includes— 
‘‘(i) a strategy for reducing the threat 
of wildfire to at-risk communities in the 
wildland-urban interface; 
‘‘(ii) recommended fireshed manage-
ment project size limitations based on the 
best available data; 
‘‘(iii) a timeline for the implementa-
tion of fireshed management projects; and 
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‘‘(iv) long-term benchmark goals for 
the completion of fireshed management 
projects in the highest wildfire exposure 
areas; and 
‘‘(D) shall be regularly updated based on 
the best available data, as determined by the 
Secretary. 
‘‘(2) INFORMATION IMPROVEMENT.— 
‘‘(A) 
MEMORANDUMS
OF
UNDER-
STANDING.—In carrying out a stewardship and 
fireshed assessment under this subsection, the 
Secretary may enter into memorandums of un-
derstanding with other Federal agencies or de-
partments, States, private entities, or research 
or educational institutions to improve, with re-
spect to such assessment, the use and integra-
tion of— 
‘‘(i) advanced remote sensing and 
geospatial technologies; 
‘‘(ii) statistical modeling and analysis; 
or 
‘‘(iii) any other technology the Sec-
retary determines will benefit the quality of 
information of such an assessment. 
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‘‘(B) STATE INFORMATION.—To the max-
imum extent practicable, the Secretary shall in-
corporate data from State forest action plans, 
State wildfire risk assessments, and other State 
sources in conducting an assessment under 
paragraph (1). 
‘‘(c) FIRESHED MANAGEMENT PROJECTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 
out fireshed management projects in fireshed man-
agement areas designated under an agreement under 
subsection (a)(1) in accordance with the timeline 
and project size limitations included in the steward-
ship and fireshed assessment relating to such areas 
under subsection (b)(1)(C). 
‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—A fireshed management 
project shall— 
‘‘(A) be carried out— 
‘‘(i) in accordance with paragraph (3); 
‘‘(ii) in accordance with the applicable 
forest management plan; and 
‘‘(iii) in a manner that maximizes the 
retention of old-growth and large trees, to 
the extent that the trees promote stands 
that are resilient to wildfire; and 
‘‘(B) be— 
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‘‘(i) developed through a collaborative 
process; 
‘‘(ii) proposed by a resource advisory 
committee (as defined in section 201 of the 
Secure Rural Schools and Community Self- 
Determination Act of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 
7121)); or 
‘‘(iii) covered by a community wildfire 
protection plan. 
‘‘(3) AUTHORIZED
ACTIVITIES.—A fireshed 
management project shall have the primary purpose 
of— 
‘‘(A) creating fuel breaks and fire breaks; 
‘‘(B) conducting hazardous fuels manage-
ment; 
‘‘(C) conducting prescribed burns; 
‘‘(D) removing dead trees, dying trees, or 
trees at high-risk of dying; or 
‘‘(E) carrying out any combination of the 
activities 
described 
in 
subparagraphs 
(A) 
through (D). 
‘‘(4) CATEGORICAL EXCLUSION FOR FIRESHED 
MANAGEMENT
PROJECTS.—Fireshed management 
projects under this subsection shall be— 
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