119-hr3553

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3553 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 3553

 To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out a study with 
 respect to the effectiveness of available wildfire mitigation methods 
 in reducing the risk of wildfire and the severity of damages from 
wildfire in communities within or adjacent to shrubland ecosystems, and 
 for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 May 21, 2025

 Mr. Min (for himself, Mrs. Kim, Ms. Brownley, Mr. Levin, Mr. Huffman, 
 Ms. Rivas, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Whitesides, Mr. Harder of California, Ms. 
 Ansari, and Ms. Jacobs) introduced the following bill; which was 
 referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the 
 Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently 
 determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out a study with 
 respect to the effectiveness of available wildfire mitigation methods 
 in reducing the risk of wildfire and the severity of damages from 
wildfire in communities within or adjacent to shrubland ecosystems, and 
 for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Building Resiliency and 
Understanding of Shrublands to Halt Fires Act'' or the ``BRUSH Fires 
Act''.

SEC. 2. SHRUBLAND WILDFIRE MITIGATION STUDY.

    (a) Study.--

    (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
 enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall conduct a study to 
 evaluate the effectiveness of wildfire mitigation methods 
 available to the Forest Service as a means of reducing the risk 
 of wildfire in covered ecosystems and the severity of damages 
 from such wildfire in communities within or adjacent to covered 
 ecosystems.

    (2) Elements.--In carrying out the study under paragraph

    (1) , the Secretary shall, with respect to covered ecosystems--
        (A) evaluate the effectiveness and longevity of--
            (i) hazardous fuels management activities, 
 including fuel modification through the use of 
 strategic fuel breaks; and
            (ii) practices for maintaining the health 
 of native ecosystems, including--
            (I) mitigating the development and 
 spread of invasive species, including 
 invasive weeds, grasses, and other 
 vegetation; or
            (II) improving the resprouting of 
 native shrub species on lands affected 
 by wildfire;
        (B) evaluate the effectiveness of policies and 
 protocols of the Forest Service with respect to 
 limiting unintentional ember ignitions attributable to 
 the public or man-made structures, including electrical 
 infrastructure;
            (C) study the conditions (including weather, 
 seasonality, and topography) under which each wildfire 
 mitigation method evaluated under the study is most and 
 least effective in reducing the risk of wildland fire;
            (D) identify administrative, operational, and 
 budgetary factors that impede the ability of wildland 
 fire managers and wildland firefighters to implement 
 wildfire mitigation methods evaluated under the study; 
 and
        (E) evaluate the effectiveness of partnerships 
 between the Forest Service and non-Federal entities in 
 reducing the vulnerability of homes, roadways, and 
 other high-risk structures to ember ignition.

    (3) Coordination; consultation.--
        (A) Interagency coordination.--In carrying out the 
 study under paragraph

    (1) , the Secretary shall, to the 
 extent practicable and to avoid the duplication of 
 research activities of the Federal Government, act in 
 coordination with--
            (i) entities within the Forest Service with 
 expertise in wildfire risk reduction and 
 ecology in covered ecosystems, including the 
 Shrub Sciences Laboratory and the Maintaining 
 Resilient Dryland Ecosystems program; and
            (ii) the heads of Federal agencies 
 conducting wildfire mitigation activities or 
 hazardous fuels management activities in 
 covered ecosystems, including the Secretary of 
 the Interior.
        (B) Consultation.--In carrying out the study under 
 paragraph

    (1) , the Secretary may, and is encouraged to, 
 solicit consultation from non-Federal public and 
 private entities with relevant expertise in wildfire 
 mitigation in covered ecosystems, as determined by the 
 Secretary.

    (b) Report.--Not later than 90 days after the date on which the 
study under subsection

    (a)

    (1) is complete, the Secretary shall submit 
to the relevant Congressional committees, and make publicly available, 
a report that includes--

    (1) a summary of the results of the study;

    (2) based on the results of the study, identification by 
 the Secretary of--
        (A) best practices for land managers in reducing 
 the risk of wildfire in covered ecosystems; and
        (B) any areas implicated by the study that merit 
 further research;

    (3) a comparison of the polices and protocols of the Forest 
 Service with respect to reducing the risk of wildfire in 
 covered ecosystems and the best practices identified under 
 paragraph

    (2)
        (A) ; and

    (4) an evaluation by the Secretary of opportunities to 
 improve coordination between the Forest Service and non-Federal 
 entities on activities to improve wildfire resilience in 
 covered ecosystems and reduce risks of harm from wildfire to 
 the built environment, particularly in the wildland-urban 
 interface.
            (c) === Definitions. ===
-In this section:

    (1) Covered ecosystems.--The term ``covered ecosystems'' 
 means shrubland ecosystems, including--
        (A) chaparral;
        (B) coastal sage scrub;
            (C) sagebrush;
            (D) shrub-steppe;
        (E) xeric shrubland; and
        (F) any other dryland shrub ecosystem in which 
 wildfire management presents a significant challenge, 
 as determined by the Secretary.

    (2) Hazardous fuels management activity.--The term 
 ``hazardous fuels management activity'' means an activity to 
 manage vegetation to reduce the risk of wildfire.

    (3) Relevant congressional committees.--The term ``relevant 
 Congressional committees'' means--
        (A) the committees on Appropriations, Natural 
 Resources, and Agriculture of the House of 
 Representatives; and
        (B) the committees on Appropriations, Energy and 
 Mineral Resources, and Agriculture, Nutrition, and 
 Forestry of the Senate.

    (4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
 of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service.

    (5) Wildland-urban interface.--The term ``wildland-urban 
 interface'' has the meaning given such term in 

section 101 of 
 the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6511).
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