I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3522 
To amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to establish 
emergency fireshed management areas, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 18, 2023 
Mr. MOORE of Utah (for himself and Mr. CUELLAR) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition 
to the Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently 
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi-
sions as fall within the jurisdiction 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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‘‘(A) considered an action categorically ex-
cluded from the from the preparation of an en-
vironmental assessment or an environmental 
impact statement under section 102 of the Na-
tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 
U.S.C. 4332); and 
‘‘(B) exempt from the special administra-
tive review process under section 105. 
‘‘(5) EXCLUSIONS.—A fireshed management 
project may not be carried out on lands— 
‘‘(A) that are included in the National Wil-
derness Preservation System; 
‘‘(B) that are located within a national or 
State-specific inventoried roadless area estab-
lished by the Secretary of Agriculture through 
regulation, unless— 
‘‘(i) the forest management activity to 
be carried out under such authority is con-
sistent with the forest plan applicable to 
the area; or 
‘‘(ii) the activity is allowed under the 
applicable roadless rule governing such 
lands, including— 
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‘‘(I) the Idaho roadless rule 
under subpart C of part 294 or title 
36, Code of Federal Regulations; 
‘‘(II) the Colorado roadless rule 
under subpart D of part 294 of title 
36, Code of Federal Regulations; or 
‘‘(III) any other roadless rule de-
veloped after the date of the enact-
ment of this section by the Secretary 
with respect to a specific State; or 
‘‘(C) on which timber harvesting for any 
purpose is prohibited by Federal statute. 
‘‘(6) RULE
OF
CONSTRUCTION
FOR
CERTAIN 
ROADLESS RULES.—Nothing in this section shall be 
construed to affect the roadless rules described in 
subclauses (I) and (II) of paragraph (5)(B)(ii). 
‘‘(7) USE
OF
OTHER
AUTHORITIES.—To the 
maximum extent practicable, the Secretary shall use 
existing statutory and administrative authorities, in-
cluding a good neighbor agreement entered into 
under section 8206 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 
(16 U.S.C. 2113a), to carry out each fireshed man-
agement project. 
‘‘(d) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Section 106 shall apply to 
fireshed management projects conducted under this sec-
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tion in the same manner as such section applies to an au-
thorized hazardous fuels reduction project conducted 
under title I, except that no restraining order, preliminary 
injunction, or injunction pending appeal shall be issued 
by any court of the United States with respect to any deci-
sion to prepare or conduct a fireshed management project 
in the wildland-urban interface. 
‘‘(e) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 2 years 
after the date of the enactment of this section and annu-
ally thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a 
report evaluating the progress and implementation of 
fireshed management projects under this section. 
‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) COLLABORATIVE
PROCESS.—The term 
‘collaborative process’ means a process relating to 
the management of National Forest System lands or 
public lands by which a project or forest manage-
ment activity is developed and implemented by the 
Secretary through collaboration with interested per-
sons, as described in section 603(b)(1)(C). 
‘‘(2) FIRESHED.—The term ‘fireshed’ means a 
landscape-scale area that faces similar wildfire 
threat where a response strategy could influence the 
wildfire outcome. 
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‘‘(3) 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); or 
‘‘(B) a land and resource management 
plan prepared by the Forest Service for a unit 
of the National Forest System pursuant to sec-
tion 6 of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable 
Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 
1604). 
‘‘(4) HAZARDOUS FUELS MANAGEMENT.—The 
term ‘hazardous fuels management’ means any vege-
tation management activities that reduce the risk of 
wildfire, including mechanical treatments and live-
stock grazing. 
‘‘(5) 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. 
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‘‘(6) RESOURCE
ADVISORY
COMMITTEE.—The 
term ‘resource advisory committee’ has the meaning 
given that term in section 201 of the Secure Rural 
Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 
2000 (16 U.S.C. 7121). 
‘‘(7) 
SECRETARY.—The 
term 
‘Secretary’ 
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. 
‘‘(8) SECTION 101 TERMS.—The terms ‘at-risk 
community’, ‘community wildfire protection plan’, 
and ‘wildland-urban interface’ have the meanings 
given such terms, respectively, in section 101.’’. 
SEC. 3. GOOD NEIGHBOR AUTHORITY. 
Section 8206 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (16 
U.S.C. 2113a) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)(4)(A)— 
(A) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 
end; 
(B) by redesignating clause (iii) as clause 
(iv); 
(C) by inserting after clause (ii) the fol-
lowing: 
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‘‘(iii) activities conducted under sec-
tion 607 of the Healthy Forests Restora-
tion Act of 2003;’’; 
(D) in clause (iv), as so redesignated, by 
striking the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 
or’’; and 
(E) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(v) any combination of activities 
specified in clauses (i) through (iv).’’; and 
(2) in subsection (b)(2), by amending subpara-
graph (C) to read as follows: 
‘‘(C) TREATMENT
OF
REVENUE.—Funds 
received from the sale of timber by a Governor 
of a State under a good neighbor agreement 
shall be retained and used by the Governor— 
‘‘(i) to carry out authorized restora-
tion services under such good neighbor 
agreement; and 
‘‘(ii) if funds are remaining after car-
rying out the services under clause (i), to 
carry out authorized restoration services 
within the State under other good neighbor 
agreements.’’. 
Æ 
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