As the 2026 wildfire season burns at historic levels, a bipartisan push in Congress to fundamentally reform how the federal government manages fire-prone forests is gaining momentum — and the catastrophic events of this summer are adding urgency to the effort.
The Fix Our Forests Act
The Fix Our Forests Act, which cleared the Senate Agriculture Committee earlier this year, aims to dramatically accelerate forest thinning, prescribed fire, and fuels reduction work on federal lands — attacking wildfire risk at its source rather than simply responding to fires after they start. The bill's bipartisan coalition of Western lawmakers is now targeting the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as a vehicle to move the legislation when Congress returns from recess. The White House has signaled support for the measure, giving its prospects a significant boost.
Advocates argue that without meaningful investment in proactive forest management, the federal government will continue to face escalating suppression costs and expanding fire perimeters year after year. The 2026 season has provided an almost textbook illustration of that argument: with over 7.9 million acres burned nationally and suppression costs climbing rapidly, the bill's supporters say the status quo is simply not sustainable.
Federal Wildfire Suppression Budget
The federal wildfire suppression budget has been under pressure for years, with major fire seasons routinely exhausting planned appropriations and forcing emergency transfers from other land management programs — a practice sometimes called "fire borrowing" that has historically taken funding away from forest restoration and fuels reduction work.
Under a funding fix enacted in 2018, a dedicated Wildfire Suppression Operations Reserve Fund was established to end fire borrowing. Starting in FY 2020, $2.25 billion in wildfire suppression budget authority has been available to the USDA and Department of the Interior, with that amount increasing by $100 million each year through FY 2027, when it will reach $2.95 billion.
For FY 2027, Congress is weighing appropriations for the Forest Service's Wildland Fire Management account. Congressional Research Service analysis places the combined wildland fire management budget — including the discretionary cap adjustment for wildfire suppression — at approximately $6.42 billion for FY 2027. Given the 2026 season's pace, many fire policy experts expect that ceiling to be tested.
Continuing Resolution Protects Fire Funding
A government funding bill passed by the Senate earlier this month includes a provision allowing necessary spending to continue for wildfire management and suppression activities, protecting firefighting operations from any potential government funding gap. The measure funds the government through December 11, providing short-term budget stability while Congress works on longer-term appropriations.
The Bigger Picture
The 2026 fire season is fueling a broader conversation about how the United States confronts the long-term drivers of catastrophic wildfire — including decades of fire suppression that have allowed fuels to accumulate across millions of acres of western forests, the effects of drought intensified by climate change, and an expanding wildland-urban interface where communities are increasingly intermixed with fire-prone vegetation.
Fire policy advocates and forestry professionals broadly agree that the path forward requires sustained investment in three areas: proactive forest management and prescribed fire to reduce fuels before they burn catastrophically; improved firefighting technology and workforce capacity to respond when fires do start; and smarter land-use planning to reduce the exposure of homes and communities to wildfire risk.
With the 2026 season offering a visceral demonstration of what happens when those investments are deferred, advocates hope this may be the moment when durable reform finally moves from committee to law.