In the wake of a wildfire season that destroyed hundreds of homes across eastern Washington, Congressman Michael Baumgartner (WA-05) has introduced the Healthy Forests Incentives Act of 2026—legislation aimed at reducing wildfire risk by tying long-term forest stewardship to economic incentives for businesses that make productive use of removed timber and biomass.

Baumgartner released the bill text on November 2, just weeks after Washington’s fire season officially wound down with more than 900,000 acres burned statewide.

The Core Problem: Overstocked Forests

“Today, many of our Western forests have up to 7 times thicker tree density than they did 100 years ago,” Baumgartner said in a statement accompanying the bill’s release. “These levels of unhealthy fuel loads contribute to extreme fire risk, particularly in forested areas near residential areas.”

The congressman pointed directly to the human cost of inaction: “We lost more than 700 homes this summer. I don’t want us losing another 700 next year.”

What the Bill Would Do

The Healthy Forests Incentives Act contains three primary mechanisms:

  • Focus stewardship on high-risk forests. The bill would direct the USDA to establish long-term stewardship management strategies on National Forest System lands within designated firesheds—the landscape-scale units that define where fire is most likely to threaten communities.
  • Encourage private investment in forest restoration. The legislation would target biomass investment and production tax incentives toward facilities that use material removed from priority firesheds, creating a financial incentive for the private sector to participate in fuel reduction work.
  • Support forest economies. Federal grant programs would be expanded to commercialize biomass from priority firesheds, including sawmill upgrades and new uses for wood removed during restoration projects.

Rethinking the Spending Split

Baumgartner cited a stark funding imbalance in his case for the legislation. Over the past 10 years, Congress has appropriated $64.7 billion in wildfire-specific funds—but more than half was directed toward fire response and suppression, while only 17 percent went toward mitigation and prevention.

“My bill seeks to better target federal resources toward preventive restoration in high-risk landscapes, while reviving forest economies across the west with more energy, jobs and cutting-edge building materials,” he said.

Broader Legislative Momentum

Baumgartner’s bill arrives amid broader momentum on forest management in Congress. The Senate passed the Wildfire Emissions Prevention Act on September 29, 2026, and the Fix Our Forests Act (S. 1462) has received a Congressional Budget Office cost estimate, suggesting it may also be moving toward floor consideration. The 2026 fire season’s severity has added urgency to the debate over how the federal government prioritizes prevention versus response in its wildland fire budget.