Huffman, Obernolte Re-introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Increase Wildfire Resiliency

Huffman, Obernolte Re-introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Increase Wildfire Resiliency

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Representatives Jared Huffman (D-CA-02) and Jay Obernolte (R-CA) introduced the Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Act to help local communities defend themselves from the growing danger of wildfires. This bill will empower communities to implement science-based methods for mitigating wildfire damage and provide funding to design and implement new Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Plans with community members, first responders, and relevant state agencies.

"The climate crisis is fueling catastrophic wildfires that are ripping through our communities, decimating entire regions and destroying lives. The government should treat these natural disasters the same way as any other, providing resources and empowering communities to build resiliency," said Representative Huffman. "Our bipartisan legislation builds on the investments we made under the Biden-Harris administration so we can prepare our communities for worst-case scenarios while working to address the build-up of issues that make wildfires so much more destructive than ever before."

"Wildfires are becoming increasingly frequent and have devastated millions of acres across the West, endangering lives, property, and critical infrastructure," said Representative Jay Obernolte. "Our local communities are best positioned to understand their own needs and challenges, and the Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Act empowers them to take a proactive and coordinated approach to wildfire protection."

Provisions from Rep. Huffman's bill, formerly known as the Wildfire Defense Act, were included in President Joe Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This included the Community Wildfire Defense Grant program, which helps communities, tribes, non-profit organizations, state forestry agencies, and Alaska Native corporations plan for and mitigate wildfire risks as the nation faces an ongoing wildfire crisis. USDA's Forest Service worked with states and tribes through an interagency workgroup to develop the Community Wildfire Defense Grant program, originally announced in June of 2022. Grant proposals underwent a competitive selection process that included review panels made up of state forestry agencies and tribal representatives.

Today's bill builds on this success and goes even further by designating a targeted, specific grant program for home hardening within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and adds home hardening as an allowable project under the USFS program.

"The Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Act will promote community resilience in the places most at-risk from wildfire. We are pleased to see Representative Huffman and Senator Harris take decisive action to address the challenges posed by climate change and fire management. We hope other members of Congress will follow their lead," said Ryan Henson, Policy Director for the CalWild.

"Climate change is exacerbating wildfires, and we need to protect homes, families, and communities across the country," said Earthjustice Senior Legislative Representative, Blaine Miller-McFeeley. "This legislation understands that mitigating wildfire risks must be grounded in the soundest science-based methods available while providing impacted communities with the resources they need to prepare for wildfire threats. In the face of worsening wildfires, we thank Rep. Huffman for making investments in community resiliency efforts."

"The Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Act is common sense legislation that encourages communities to work together to reduce wildfire risk near homes and communities. In particular, prioritizing wildfire risk reduction that utilizes local workers and contractors will ensure that the economic benefits of resilience treatments flow to local communities, resulting in a win-win for people and the forest," said Susan Jane Brown, Principal, Silvix Resources.

"The Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Act puts the safety of lives, homes, and communities first," said Garett Rose, Senior Attorney, Forest Project for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Instead of relying on ineffective strategies like widespread backcountry logging, this bill prioritizes proven, practical solutions such as defensible spaces, home-hardening, and community resilience efforts that meaningfully reduce wildfire risks. We applaud Ranking Member Huffman for advancing this science-based legislation that protects communities, supports healthy ecosystems, and prepares us for the increasing challenges posed by climate change."

"Ranking Member Huffman's legislation provides a real solution to the complex challenges of addressing wildlife in an era of climate chaos," said Brett Hartl, Government Affairs Director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "It is imperative that both sides of the aisle come to the table with science and factually based solutions."

Anna Medema, Associate Director of Legislative and Administrative Advocacy, Forests and Public Lands at Sierra Club said, "With the effects of the climate crisis only becoming more serious, it's vital that we create and support fire-smart communities. From education and funding to community-scale planning, we need to make sure that the most at-risk places have the resources to help. The Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Act will go a long way towards making our communities safer and protecting first responders."

"This bill would help communities adapt to extreme wildfire, a crisis supercharged by climate change," said Bart Johnsen-Harris, Director of Federal Climate Change Policy at Trust for Public Land. "We applaud Congressman Huffman's focus on bolstering resilience, which is critical to protecting people's lives, their homes, businesses and communities."

"We thank Representative Huffman for this science-based bill that far surpasses others relying on the simplistic and false notion that logging our nation's forests is the answer to managing wildfire," said Robert Dewey, Vice President of Government Relations at Defenders of Wildlife. "Supporting healthy biodiverse ecosystems is the best way to increase our nation's resiliency against the climate crisis and uncharacteristic wildfires."

"The Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Act is the smart, pragmatic and science-based approach we need to address the increasing threat of wildfire in our communities," said Jordan Schreiber, Director of Government Relations at The Wilderness Society. "This bill is consistent with urgently-needed recommendations from the 2023 Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission's Report, which is a roadmap to meaningful and lasting change to address the wildfire crisis. We thank Representative Huffman for his leadership in empowering local communities and working to secure the resources necessary to respond to these climate extremes."

"The Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Act embodies the crucial shift our agencies must take-moving from broad, misguided forest management strategies deep in the wildlands to a focus on defending communities and safeguarding lives. True wildfire preparedness starts with protecting homes, infrastructure, and the people who live there, not with logging far-off forests. This is the science-backed approach that saves lives and homes by emphasizing defensible space, home hardening, early detection, and community-driven planning," said Jennifer Mamola, Advocacy and Policy Director for John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute

Specifically, the bipartisan Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Act will invest $1 billion per year to:

• Establish guidelines for communities to conceptualize new Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Plans (CPWRP) that are developed in coordination with community members, first responders, and relevant state agencies. CPWRPs will focus on implementing strategies and activities relating to:
• • Improving early detection technology, public outreach and education, alerts and warnings, evacuation planning, evacuation execution, and access for first responder
  • Addressing vulnerable populations, including the elderly and those with disabilities
  • Hardening critical infrastructure and homes
  • Applying community-scale defensible space across contiguous areas
  • Building local capacity to implement and oversee the plan
  • Deploying distributed energy resources like microgrids with battery storage
  • Implementing strategic land use planning
  • Educating community members
  • Coordinating with existing wildfire plans like a Community Wildfire Protection Plan
• Provide grants of up to $250,000 to develop a CPWRP and grants of up to $10 million to implement a CPWRP
• • Grants will be prioritized for low-income communities that are at high risk for fire or wildfire and communities recently impacted by a major wildfire
• Complete a report on all federal authorities and programs to protect communities from wildfires
• Study how a CPWRP could be used as certification for insurance companies assessing community resilience
• Continuously update wildfire hazard maps
• Assess impediments to emergency radio communications across departments and agencies
• Allow for structure hardening to be covered under existing community wildfire protection programs

The bill is endorsed by Earthjustice, Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, Silvix Resources, Defenders of Wildlife, Trust for Public Land, Natural Resources Defense Council, The Wilderness Society, John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute, Wild Heritage, Unite the Parks, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Feather River Action!, Forests Forever, Climate Communications Coalition, Heartwood, Tahoe Forests Matter, Eco-Integrity Alliance, Conservation Congress, Friends of the Clearwater, and SoCoCAN!.

Additional Resources

Text of the bill can be found here.

A one-pager of the bill can be found here.

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