After passing the House in January with overwhelming bipartisan support, the Fix Our Forests Act (FOFA) had been at a standstill for the past nine months– until yesterday. Despite the ongoing government shutdown, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry advanced the bill with a vote of 18-5.

The Fix Our Forests Act is the most significant policy effort in years to modernize how the federal government manages forests and responds to wildfires. Data from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences shows that since the early 2000s, wildfire frequency has doubled in the East and West and quadrupled in the Great Plains.

Wildfires have a domino effect in fire-prone regions, harming local economies, wiping out critical infrastructure, and threatening ecosystems and human health through smoke and poor air quality. They also release enormous amounts of carbon (often far more than burning fossil fuels) and leave behind millions of burned acres, disrupting livelihoods and natural landscapes. Because of this, the effort to pass meaningful forest management reform is more critical than ever.

FOFA cuts through bureaucratic delays, promotes proactive forest management, and brings together federal, state, tribal, and local partners to expedite on-the-ground restoration work. The bill would speed up projects in high-risk firesheds identified by the U.S. Forest Service and expand proven tools like prescribed fire and selective thinning.

It would also establish a new Wildfire Intelligence Center, utilizing real-time data, satellite imagery, and advanced modeling to enable firefighters and land managers to predict, prevent, and respond to fires more effectively. This innovative approach modernizes how agencies share information and coordinate resources to protect our forests and communities.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman said the measure will help “keep our forests healthy and working for generations to come,” while protecting communities from deadly wildfires. 

According to E&E News, the House version’s sponsor and Natural Resources Committee Chair Bruce Westerman attended the hearing and backed the changes in the Senate version, saying he doesn’t anticipate any trouble getting it back through the House.

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C3 Solutions has long championed solutions to improper forest management and highlighted the costs of inaction. Our EVP of Policy, Nick Loris, testified on this very issue, specifically the growing financial and environmental costs of wildfires on communities. C3 Action recently joined 28 other organizations in urging the Senate to advance this bill. The coalition, representing groups across conservation, forestry, agriculture, and energy, called for action to strengthen wildfire resilience and forest health through proactive management, thinning, prescribed fire, and reforestation. 

Now that the Fix Our Forests Act has cleared the Senate Agriculture Committee, it’s up to the Senate floor to continue advancing this bipartisan legislation. The Fix Our Forests Act represents the kind of common-sense, innovative conservation policy that unites both parties around a shared goal of protecting our forests and the people and ecosystems that depend on them. 

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of C3.