The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation joined nearly two dozen forest, firefighting, science, conservation and other organizations to advocate for the Fix Our Forests Act. They sent a letter (see below) to Sen. John Thune, Senate majority leader, and Sen. Chuck Schumer, Senate minority leader, asking the Senate to help pass the bill into law. The House passed the measure by a vote of 279-141 in January.

The Fix Our Forests Act will simplify and expedite environmental reviews for forest management projects, promote greater collaboration of forest management activity, deter frivolous litigation by reversing the 9th Circuit Court’s Cottonwood decision and address other issues that reduce the risk of wildfire, enhance wildlife habitat and improve overall forest health.

 

September 9, 2025

The Honorable John Thune
Majority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Charles Schumer
Minority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Majority Leader Thune and Minority Leader Schumer, 

We represent a broad range of organizations advocating to increase resilience to catastrophic wildfires, invest in active forest management including thinning, prescribed fire, restoration, and reforestation, improve land use planning and land management, enhance wildlife habitat and water quality, and better protect communities from wildfires. We support S. 1462, the Fix Our Forests Act.
 
The rising risk of wildfire is an urgent and far-reaching crisis. Across the country, Americans are impacted by severe wildfires, from the tragic Palisades and Eaton Fires in Los Angeles earlier this year, to the smoke-choked skies of our Eastern and Midwestern cities this summer and last. Compounding severe wildfires, we are losing our forests to extreme weather like Hurricane Helene, drought, and insects and diseases that are ravaging heritage species like the white oak and giant sequoias. Just as Americans are directly impacted by wildfires and the loss of hundreds of millions of trees, so too are the natural resources and ecosystems we rely upon to provide drinking and agriculture water, feed and house us, provide for our recreation and hunting grounds, and sustain our traditions and ways of life.
 
Despite widespread recognition of the need to mitigate the threats posed by catastrophic wildfire and ecosystem degradation, our lands and communities are at risk now more than ever before. Congress has an opportunity and responsibility to act. The Fix Our Forests Act is a critical step forward. The bill provides an opportunity to speed up the planning and implementation of wildfire risk reduction projects on federal lands while expanding collaborative tools to bring more partners into this vital work. Additionally, it bolsters the use of prescribed fire to help reduce fire severity and restore ecosystems. The bill recognizes that replanting after wildfire and other extreme events goes hand in hand with active forest management and the legislation supports ecosystem and habitat restoration across our public lands and in the priceless white oak forests of the Eastern U.S. The Fix Our Forests Act also takes a broad view of the solutions needed by establishing a Community Wildfire Risk Reduction Program to address risk in the built environment and creating a Fire Intelligence Center to improve interagency coordination and adoption of new technologies.
 
The House has already acted on the companion bill, H.R. 471. It remains for the Senate to continue to advance the Fix Our Forests Act out of the Committee on Agriculture and Nutrition and secure passage of the bill before the full Senate. We commend the work of the Committee and cosponsors to date and we urge you to take swift action. Congress has the opportunity to take bipartisan action now, proactively, before the next fire inevitably costs lives, livelihoods, and ways of life.
 
Sincerely,
 

Alliance for Wildfire Resilience

American Conservation Coalition Action

American Forests

American Property Casualty Insurance Association

Bipartisan Policy Center Action

Citizens’ Climate Lobby

Climate and Wildfire Institute

Federation of American Scientists

International Association of Fire Chiefs

Megafire Action

National Association of State Foresters

National Wild Turkey Federation

Nature is Nonpartisan

Property and Environment Research Center

Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation

Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition

Tall Timbers

The Stewardship Project

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership

United Aerial Firefighters Association

Vibrant Planet

White Oak Initiative

(Photo credit: Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation)