S. 2015 · 119th Congress

National Prescribed Fire Act of 2025

Introduced on Jun 10, 2025 by Ron Wyden (D-OR). 5 cosponsors, 3 of them from another party. Latest action (Sep 17, 2026): Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 635.

Stage
Reported by committee
Introduced
Jun 10, 2025
Cosponsors
5
3 from the other party
Policy area
Public Lands and Natural Resources
Open in the Congress explorerCongress.govAlert me

Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. Reported by committee
  3. 3Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

A bill to direct the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to encourage and expand the use of prescribed fire on land managed by the Department of the Interior or the Forest Service, with an emphasis on units of the National Forest System in the western and southeastern United States, to acknowledge and support the long-standing use of cultural burning by Indian Tribes and Indigenous practitioners, and for other purposes.

Subjects

  • Air quality
  • Civil actions and liability
  • Congressional oversight
  • Employee hiring
  • Employment and training programs
  • Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
  • Environmental health
  • Fires
  • First responders and emergency personnel
  • Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
  • Government studies and investigations
  • Hazardous wastes and toxic substances
  • Intergovernmental relations
  • Minority employment
  • Temporary and part-time employment
  • Veterans' education, employment, rehabilitation
  • Women's employment

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in Senate, Jun 10, 2025). Public domain.

National Prescribed Fire Act of 2025

This bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of the Interior to increase the number and size of prescribed fires conducted on federal lands.

For 10 years, Interior and USDA must annually conduct prescribed fires on federal land so that the total acreage where prescribed fires are conducted is 10% greater than the previous fiscal year.

Interior and USDA must establish a collaborative prescribed fire program to provide financial assistance to eligible entities to conduct prescribed fires in priority landscapes.

Interior and USDA may enter into cooperative agreements or contracts with states, Indian tribes, counties, municipal governments, fire districts, nongovernmental organizations, or private entities to coordinate prescribed fires on federal land.

Interior and USDA must expand employment opportunities for prescribed fire practitioners, including by expanding hazard pay, supporting underrepresented groups, and establishing additional training centers.

To address the public health and safety risk of the expanded use of prescribed fire, the Environmental Protection Agency must coordinate with state, tribal, and local air quality agencies to support the environmental review of wildland fires.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Ron WydenD-ORSponsor

Democrats · 2

Republicans · 3

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Jun 10, 2025Introduced in Senate
  2. Jun 10, 2025 · SenateRead twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  3. Dec 17, 2025 · SenateCommittee on Energy and Natural Resources. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
  4. Sep 17, 2026Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Reported by Senator Lee with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. Without written report.
  5. Sep 17, 2026 · SenateCommittee on Energy and Natural Resources. Reported by Senator Lee with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. Without written report.
  6. Sep 17, 2026 · SenatePlaced on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 635.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION5 reports
    $990K reported (all issues)
  2. Climate and Wildfire Institute5 reports
    $125K reported (all issues)
  3. DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE5 reports
    $660K reported (all issues)
  4. Tall Timbers Research, Inc.5 reports
    $81K reported (all issues)
  5. The Nature Conservancy5 reports
    $5.9M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: THE NATURE CONSERVANCYAI match · 100%
  6. United Aerial Firefighters Association5 reports
    $10K reported (all issues)
  7. Earthjustice Action1 report
    $111.7K reported (all issues)
  8. FUND FOR A BETTER FUTURE1 report
    $50K reported (all issues)
  9. FireGeneration Collaborative1 report

Reports filed in 2025, 2026.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 8, 2026 · loaded Oct 8, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 7, 2026 · loaded Oct 7, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.