As the 2026 wildfire season writes itself into the record books, the political conversation in Washington, D.C. has shifted with new urgency toward long-term forest management and fire policy reform. The bipartisan Fix Our Forests Act is gaining momentum with White House backing, even as critics and lawmakers question whether the current administration's firefighting posture has made the crisis worse.

Fix Our Forests Act: What It Would Do

The Fix Our Forests Act, which has been described as gaining traction in both chambers of Congress with bipartisan support, would expand several key forest management tools:

  • Accelerate environmental review processes for fuels reduction and forest thinning projects on federal lands.
  • Expand the use of prescribed fire and managed fire as landscape-scale forest health tools.
  • Increase funding and authority for wildfire mitigation projects in high-risk communities.
  • Streamline interagency coordination between the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and state agencies.

Fire scientists and forest managers have long argued that decades of fire suppression have created overstocked, fuel-laden forests that burn more intensely than historic fire regimes. Prescribed fire and managed fire, they contend, are essential to resetting those conditions at scale.

Controversy Over Suppression-First Policy

A separate and pointed debate is unfolding over the Trump administration's directive that a "full suppression strategy" be applied to every wildfire under Department of Interior management — a policy that critics say runs counter to decades of fire ecology research.

Former U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper called for a formal review of that policy in the wake of the catastrophic Aspen Acres Fire in Colorado, which burned 102,004 acres before reaching 82 percent containment. In a statement reported by the Montana Free Press, Hickenlooper argued the review "should incorporate an analysis of management decisions and structures that informed on-the-ground operations that day — including the structure of the U.S. Wildland Fire Service itself, which has not been authorized by Congress."

The U.S. Wildland Fire Service, established administratively to consolidate federal firefighting functions, has operated under an uncertain legal authority since its creation. Congress has not passed legislation formally authorizing or structuring the agency.

Funding: Emergency Supplementals and Baseline Budgets

The fiscal 2026 spending framework included approximately $2.65 billion in emergency spending for Interior-Environment accounts, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, in addition to baseline wildland fire management appropriations. The Forest Service's combined wildland fire management account for FY2026 totaled approximately $6.42 billion, including suppression cap adjustments.

Despite the significant funding, suppression costs for the 2026 season are expected to substantially exceed projections, given the scale and complexity of active fires across the West. Cost per acre for fire suppression can reach thousands of dollars on complex, long-duration incidents.

State-Level Actions

At the state level, Washington Governor Bob Ferguson's emergency declaration unlocked state suppression funding and mutual aid resources. Oregon Governor Tina Kotek has been touring fire-affected areas and coordinating between the Oregon Military Department and the State Fire Marshal to assess gaps in response capability. Both governors have called for increased federal support and faster environmental review for fuels treatments on federal lands adjacent to communities.

The 2026 fire season is expected to further energize the legislative debate around wildfire policy, with Fire's end-of-season cost reports likely to drive renewed calls for both improved prevention and a reconsideration of the ecological role of fire on western landscapes.