1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act of 2020”.
Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act of 2020
A BILL
To increase wildfire preparedness and response throughout the United States, and for other purposes.
2. Table of contents
The table of contents for this Act is as follows:
3. Findings
Congress finds that—
in 2017 and 2018, the State of California, the State of Montana, and other Western States experienced some of the deadliest and most destructive wildfires in the last 100 years, devastating Federal, State, and private land, destroying tens of thousands of homes, killing dozens of people, and burning large areas of land in the wildland-urban interface (as defined in section 101 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511));
fire suppression practices over several decades, inadequate levels of forest management, and climate change have increased the risk of wildfires, and, according to the Fourth National Climate Assessment by the United States Global Change Research Program, the cumulative number of acres burned in the period from 1984 to 2015 was twice the number of acres that would have burned in the absence of climate change;
increased development in the wildland-urban interface near overgrown forest landscapes has increased the number of people living in areas that are at risk of wildfire;
despite legislation enacted over the last 20 years to facilitate hazardous fuels reduction, certain statutory, regulatory, and administrative requirements, including studies, publication periods, season-specific surveys, and objection processes, and litigation can significantly impede rapid implementation of hazardous fuels reduction projects necessary to protect lives and property;
increasing the pace and scale of science-based, publicly developed forest management activities that reduce hazardous fuels, including through mechanical thinning and controlled burning, can reduce the size and scope of wildfires, as well as protect watersheds, improve fish and wildlife habitat, expand recreational opportunities, protect air quality, and increase the sequestration of carbon on National Forest System and Bureau of Land Management land;
in 2019, 11,800,000 acres of National Forest System land in the State of California and 6,300,000 acres of National Forest System land in the State of Montana were at high or very high wildfire hazard potential, of which 3,100,000 acres and 1,600,000 acres, respectively, were within proximity to populated areas; and
the Governor of the State of California has proclaimed a “State of Emergency” due to a vast tree die-off throughout the State that has increased the risk of wildfires and has created extremely dangerous fire conditions.
4. Definitions
In this Act:
Federal land— The term Federal land means—
land of the National Forest System (as defined in section 11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a))); and
public lands (as defined in section 103 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702)).
Secretary concerned— The term Secretary concerned means—
the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to Federal land described in paragraph (1)(A); and
the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to Federal land described in paragraph (1)(B).