Fix Our Forests Act Picks Up Momentum in Congress Amid Record 2026 Fire Season

As the 2026 wildfire season continues to set records, a bipartisan legislative effort to overhaul federal forest management is gaining momentum in Congress — with the White House providing a significant boost last month by signaling presidential support.

What the Fix Our Forests Act Would Do

The Fix Our Forests Act, approved by the Senate Agriculture Committee, would make sweeping changes to how the federal government manages forests and addresses wildfire risk. Key provisions include:

Designating Fireshed Management Areas — high-risk zones near communities where wildfire poses the greatest threat — and prioritizing fuel reduction work in those areas
Expanding prescribed burning programs and streamlining environmental review processes for fuel treatments
Accelerating thinning and forest management projects to reduce heavy fuel accumulations
Improving coordination between federal agencies, states, tribes, and local governments on wildfire mitigation

Supporters describe it as a proactive, deregulatory approach to getting ahead of fire rather than perpetually reacting to it.

White House Backing

On August 10, the Office of Management and Budget issued a statement of administration policy indicating that President Trump's advisers would recommend he sign the Senate version of the bill. The White House framed the legislation as a deregulatory measure consistent with the administration's push to "actively manage our forests" and reduce conditions that lead to catastrophic fire.

The endorsement was seen as a significant boost for the bill's prospects, especially as smoke from Western fires drifted over Washington, D.C., providing a visceral backdrop to congressional debates about wildfire policy.

Path Forward: The NDAA Vehicle

Advocates are eyeing the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) — a must-pass piece of legislation — as a potential vehicle to move the bill forward when Congress returns from recess. Attaching the Fix Our Forests Act to the NDAA would give it a cleaner path to the president's desk without requiring a standalone floor vote in either chamber.

Funding Picture

The fiscal picture for wildfire management is significant. The FY2026 appropriations packages provided approximately $2.65 billion for Interior-Environment wildfire programs as part of emergency spending, and the Forest Service's combined Wildland Fire Management account stands at roughly $6.42 billion — including discretionary cap adjustments for fire suppression. Congress continues to provide emergency supplemental suppression funding on an as-needed basis during active fire seasons.

Critics of the status quo note that funding fires reactively — much like funding a war — incentivizes suppression over prevention. Proponents of the Fix Our Forests Act argue that investing in pre-fire forest treatments would reduce the long-term cost of wildfire response.

Opposition

Environmental groups have pushed back on elements of the legislation, arguing that logging provisions included in some versions of the bill would damage old-growth forests and that thinning treatments have limited effectiveness against the kinds of wind-driven crown fires seen in 2026. The debate reflects long-standing tensions between timber-focused forest management and conservation-centered approaches.