Fix Our Forests Act – Take Action!

The Fix Our Forests Act (FOFA) was introduced by Arkansas Representative Bruce Westerman in January of 2025, and it passed in the House on a bi-partisan vote, 279 – 141. It will be coming up for a Senate vote fairly soon. This Act will not “fix our forests” and in fact would result in reduced forest protections and increased logging of our forests. It would also promote more grazing on our federal lands, which is very damaging to forest soils and understories. It should be called the Degrade Our Forests Act.

The Act does have some positive elements, such as supporting research concerning fire-hardening of homes and other infrastructure, although there is no funding or grants included to support implementation. The Act also supports the improvement of wildfire management technology, including improved dispatch communications, remote sensing, detection, and tracking and safety equipment. But these positive elements do not even begin to counterbalance the policies and funding that would be detrimental for our forests. The Act greatly prioritizes extraction of forest resources over forest protection, weakening forest protections under the National Environmental Policy Act.

This is going to be a difficult era in which to protect our forests, but that simply means we need to stand for forests more than ever. Please email, write or call your U.S. senators, and urge them to vote against the Fix Our Forests Act.

The Center for Biological Diversity, along with collaborating conservation organizations, has stated about the Fix Our Forests Act:

This legislation is ostensibly about forest management and fire, but in reality, it’s about stifling citizen voices, removing science from land management decisions, and a large-scale rollback of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on millions of acres of federal lands. Its sweeping provisions remove standards and accountability in service of the short-term interests of extractive industries, which will likely exacerbate wildfires. The bill contains essentially no standards or provisions to maintain, or even consider, the long-term health and resilience for millions of acres of public lands. It would leave these areas open to unlimited logging and divert resources from protecting communities and implementing smart wildfire strategies now underway, while providing no funding to carry out its mandates or activities necessary to increase community resilience. This is yet another example of industry and its congressional allies using popular ideas like ‘forest management’ as a trojan horse for weakening environmental laws and forest protections that ultimately benefit their profits, not the public.

They have provided a handout that details their three primary concerns.

Environment America has put out a page of Fix Our Forests Act talking points that you can use freely in emails, letters and phone calls to U.S. Senators. They are also circulating a petition that you can sign.

Here is a simple template letter that you can cut and paste, add to, and send to your U.S. Senators:

Dear Senator  ___________,

The Senate may soon vote on the “Fix Our Forests” Act.

Despite its name, this bill is bad for our forests. It will open the floodgates for unwarranted logging and roll back protections for endangered species.

I am urging you not to support this bill that destroys large numbers of trees, damages forest soils and understory potentially long-term, and degrades forests.

The “Fix Our Forests” Act circumvents vital protective measures and accelerates logging, all supposedly in the name of preventing wildfires and helping forests thrive.

It simply doesn’t make any sense. Cutting down trees en masse and trammeling forest floors is the opposite of fixing our forests.

This bill proposes to exempt “vegetation management” (commonly known as logging and thinning) activities in our national forests from environmental review, leaving forests at risk from reckless logging projects.

Mature and old-growth trees help prevent flooding and erosion. They provide homes for wildlife of all kinds. Younger trees are also vital to our future forest ecosystems.

This bill is part of an attempt to deal with climate change effects by brute force and destruction of our natural world, and will only make climate impacts much worse instead of better.

There are a few good elements of the Fix Our Forests Act that should be preserved, including supporting research concerning home fire protection, and improving technology to detect and contain fires when it is necessary. These elements should be retained.

There are positive ways to protect communities from fire and to “fix” our forests. Clearing vegetation and fine fuels from around homes and other important human infrastructure is critical. Many forests are transitioning due to climate warming. Strategies need to be utilized that help forests to retain moisture instead of overly opening up tree canopies and allowing soils and understory to dry out, which can increase the flammability of forest vegetation. We need more current science, and updated consideration of appropriate forest management strategies for a warming climate.

I strongly suggest that this act be voted down by the Senate, and replaced with an act that will genuinely benefit our forests and communities. At the very least, the Senate should vastly improve the FOFA by focusing on genuinely protecting our forests instead of exploiting forests in the name of forest management and fire protection.

Thank you for caring about our forests and helping us to protect them. They are our children’s natural heritage, and we must think ahead for the upcoming generations.

Sincerely,
___________

Please include these senators when you contact your own U.S. Senators. You can also call your Senator’s offices. A U.S. Capitol Switchboard operator can connect you directly with the Senate office. (202) 224-3121