Congressional bills rejecting science-based approach to forest management and wildfire mitigation face vote today

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources is scheduled today to vote on two controversial bills concerning forests, both of which include anti-science approaches to forest management and wildfire prevention.

One bill, “The Proven Forest Management Act of 2025” (H.R. 179), would create a 10,000-acre categorical exclusion for forest management activities that reduce “forest fuels,” such as logging. The result would be limiting environmental review on a very large scale, which could have significant effects on how forests are managed to the detriment of the environment, wildfire prevention capabilities, and the health of critical ecosystems.

The other bill (H.R. 178) would “require the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out activities to suppress wildfires” by eliminating fire professionals’ discretion in managing wildfires on national forest lands. The bill would return the federal government to a 1930’s approach to wildfire suppression that is partially responsible for the frequent and worsening wildfires the country has been confronting in recent years. The bill is inconsistent with the U.S. Forest Service’s Wildfire Strategy, which was created by the Wildland Fire Leadership Council — the nation’s highest-level authority on wildfire — and replaces expert recommendations with the discretion of Secretary of Agriculture. The Forest Service itself has “serious concerns” with the proposed bill, stating it “would remove critical resource management and firefighting tools and tactics from interagency responders who have to make life and death decisions.”

“These bills would blindfold the public from how the Trump administration is managing national forestlands and hamstring the professionals tasked with preventing wildfires,” said Earthjustice senior legislative representative Blaine Miller-McFeeley. “These bills would also send us back to an era that’s in part to blame for the current untenable wildfire situation we now face in the United States. Our elected representatives should be focused on protecting forests and human safety by empowering wildfire experts and relying on science, not the whims of the Trump administration and interests of the timber industry.”

Environmental groups representing millions of members and supporters across the country signed a letter opposing the proposed legislation. The vote begins at 10 a.m. ET.