Hickenlooper’s Fix Our Forests Act will help reduce wildfire risk for Colorado communities and speed up mitigation projects while maintaining environmental safeguards and encouraging local involvement
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper, John Curtis, Alex Padilla, and Tim Sheehy applauded the continued progress of their bipartisan Fix Our Forests Act, which received a hearing this afternoon in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. The bipartisan legislation works to combat the increase of catastrophic wildfires across Colorado and the United States by improving forest management, supporting fire-safe communities, and streamlining approvals for projects that protect communities and ecosystems from extreme wildfires.
A one-pager can be found here, and a section-by-section can be found here.
“The wildfire crisis is here – and climate change is making it worse,” Hickenlooper said. “Our bipartisan bill matches the urgency to protect our communities and the environment. We’re glad the committee is moving fast – this crisis won’t wait.”
“Utah and the American West are on the front lines of raging wildfires—and the longer we wait, the more acres will burn, and the more families will be impacted,” said Curtis. “I’m encouraged to see our Fix Our Forests Act receive a hearing in the Senate Agriculture Committee today. Our legislation reflects months of consensus-building, and I’m confident that spirit will continue as the bill is considered by the Committee and, later, by the full Senate.”
“The status quo around wildfires isn’t working. To protect our communities from these disasters, we have to work together across the aisle to reassess how we prevent and mitigate wildfires,” said Padilla. “Our Fix Our Forests Act represents important bipartisan progress, not just in reducing wildfire risk in and around our national forests, but in protecting urban areas and our efforts to slash climate emissions. I am glad to see the bill continue to move through the Senate and will keep fighting to advance forward-thinking, practical solutions to the wildfire crisis because if we can help prevent even one more community from the devastation California has experienced, it’ll be worth it.”
“As we work to create more good-paying jobs and support those on the frontlines protecting communities from catastrophic wildfire, better stewarding our forests is something we can all agree on, regardless of party. The Fix Our Forests Act is a bipartisan, commonsense solution that helps secure a stronger economy, more resilient, healthy forests, and safer communities,” said Sheehy.
The comprehensive bill reflects months of bipartisan negotiations to find consensus on how to accelerate forest management projects, promote safe and responsible prescribed fire treatments, expand public input in assessments of wildfire resilience needs, and enhance collaboration between federal agencies, states, tribes, and stakeholders.
Earlier this month, the senators announced growing support from state and local government officials, community leaders, and industry stakeholders for the Senate version of the Fix Our Forests Act.
The West has long been prone to wildfires, but climate change, prolonged drought, and the buildup of dry fuels have increasingly intensified these fires and extended fire seasons. Wildfires today are more catastrophic – growing larger, spreading faster, and burning more land than ever before.
Colorado has seen four of the five largest fires in our state history since 2018. The 2021 Marshall fire was Colorado’s most destructive on record, burning over 1,000 homes. The Cameron Peak and East Troublesome fires in 2020 together burned over 400,000 acres, the two largest fires in the state’s history. Nationwide, total acres burned rose from 2.7 million in 2023 to nearly 9 million in 2024, a 231% increase.
Forest health challenges are also increasing in frequency and severity due to climate stressors like drought and fire, and biological threats like invasive species – all of which the West is particularly vulnerable to. From 2001 to 2019, total forest area declined by 2.3%, while interior forest area decreased by up to 9.5%. The Intermountain region had the largest area losses, and the Pacific Southwest had the highest annual loss rates.
More information on today’s hearing is available HERE.
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