National Prescribed Fire Act of 2025

National Prescribed Fire Act of 2025

This bill would establish a national program to expand the use of prescribed fire — also known as controlled burning — on federal lands across the United States. Prescribed fire involves intentionally setting and managing fires under carefully planned conditions to reduce the buildup of dry brush, dead trees, and other vegetation that can fuel dangerous wildfires. The bill would set goals, create clearer guidelines, and likely provide funding or resources to help federal land management agencies carry out more of these controlled burns each year.

The bill would primarily affect federal land management agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, directing them to increase their use of prescribed burning as a tool for managing forests and reducing wildfire risk. It would also affect state and local governments, tribal nations, and private landowners near federal lands, since large wildfires do not respect property lines and reducing fuel buildup on federal land can lower the risk of fires spreading into surrounding communities.

For everyday Americans, the practical impact could include reduced risk of catastrophic wildfires in fire-prone regions — particularly in the West — which have grown increasingly destructive in recent years. Communities near forests and grasslands could see long-term benefits in terms of safety and property protection. There may also be short-term effects, such as temporary smoke in nearby areas during controlled burns, which is a common tradeoff associated with prescribed fire programs.

The bill is currently in the early stages of the legislative process, having been referred to and approved by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources with an amendment. It would still need to pass the full Senate, the House of Representatives, and be signed by the President before becoming law.