[{"_1":2,"_110":-5,"_111":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75,86,98],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":72,"_74":72},"mediaId",6240025,"mediaKeyId","3331695-b8cf96d9689e966b1fcb8ad84e84a38c","parentId",3331695,"title","Lawmakers and chiefs link road access, roadless policy and good-neighbor authority to wildfire outcomes","audioSeconds",497,"startMs",3042000,"endMs",3539000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=3331695-b8cf96d9689e966b1fcb8ad84e84a38c&start=3042&end=3539","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3331695-b8cf96d9689e966b1fcb8ad84e84a38c/thumbnail_3042000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6240025/Lawmakers-and-chiefs-link-road-access-roadless-policy-and-good-neighbor-authority-to-wildfire-outcomes","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6240025-a9e11ee496104b29d3a1ccb7e363ee5f/orig.mp4?Expires=1770457253&Signature=lciX7~iixtCOyFFPL9rsIqDEGDWN9IN9EQYM4OGGznMIO60jCP5TenEQOopYr5c6hXJ8jARu28vElE05znk1sWudq1ZP70isX2YvQ9GkbUALm2rG2-YEopdYiMLdGM1Klt0ic62wF2FC5tzGNLCzuObcy4WlGBHu5p7s2q83izePu~pF4RKaiB-bv1v6qx12kjAhaT2QWNG6CrUvmWm06atcKDC7zk1GtuQ6ZDHCwisrOW6HUnGm0GVxDoNkW2qUVh-pMZfZbHVMhKZ202eJqm1sYy30Ulm4Fz43iN1lHZRZIy8Hbm6gNJiIAD69PoPznUeLuY08gR7UGrqpizlumw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources","date","2025-05-16T00:01:00.977Z","article","At a House Natural Resources hearing, several members and fire chiefs blamed lack of access and restrictive policies for limiting managers' ability to implement treatments and respond to ignitions, and they discussed Good Neighbor Authority and other statutory fixes as potential remedies.

Representative Hageman and other members described the 2001 roadless rule as a major impediment to access for treatments and suppression. ‘‘I believe that the roadless rule is one of the most destructive regulations ever adopted... in terms of being able to manage and protect our forests,’’ a member said during questioning. Witnesses and members debated the extent to which policies like the roadless rule, litigation or a century of suppression-based management have contributed to current fuel loads. Dan Muncy, San Bernardino County's fire chief, described historic Civilian Conservation Corps-era control lines and argued that reestablishing access and control lines, and maintaining them, are essential to keep fires small and manageable.

Lawmakers and panelists also discussed Good Neighbor Authority and shared stewardship agreements that allow states and tribes to work across jurisdictions; supporters said expanding these authorities could speed implementation and build local capacity. Matt Weiner and others recommended a dedicated fire-shed registry and a single coordinating center for fire intelligence to improve prioritization and accountability.

Several members called for clearer leadership at the federal level and pointed to cases where local governments financed dashboards or common operating pictures because they said federal agencies lack the technical tools to share operational information. The hearing yielded no formal change to federal policy; members asked witnesses for reports and models that could inform legislative text.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Oversight Hearing | Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee","oneSentenceSummary","Committee discussion highlighted the roadless rule, access to ignition points, and expanded authorities (including Good Neighbor Authority) as factors that affect management capacity and response time for wildfires.","taxTitle","Natural Resources: House Committee, Standing Committees - House & Senate, Congressional Hearings Compilation, Legislative, Federal","taxId",1983,"location","","headline","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":79,"_47":80,"_49":81,"_51":82,"_53":83,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":84,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":85,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":72,"_74":72},6240027,"Flagstaff, San Bernardino officials point to local fuels projects and collaboration as models",0,3694000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3331695-b8cf96d9689e966b1fcb8ad84e84a38c&start=3694&end=3694","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3331695-b8cf96d9689e966b1fcb8ad84e84a38c/thumbnail_3694000.jpg","/articles/6240027/Flagstaff-San-Bernardino-officials-point-to-local-fuels-projects-and-collaboration-as-models","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6240027-4efa27caf370e4c18b8389aafc2e1002/orig.mp4?Expires=1770457253&Signature=BSvbmUkGF1R-4u~SIdfAixcPwT-Hx68KauENvVH2wAoJiwftreRCLkHjC7aYZaWRJE8TqKEZge5ixwLTVCCoSqw3ujtt06IutkZJaV-CR2pfxoJgl3a89DOZmhRqGpNyw2Hus5camdkqoRVXvpOzyCsplgczFtfRKVrRsa-VyuOeG0y5VI966y6jsvjeULtLDApT~YZ8UxjulRrFiCzdh81C2dypNLB5TPoBprR4aeCwNalmZBLl57iV~ucf4VFVKmdgEmJwHYw5eTr6bIBL7aNWYBtOcDWdiGoUzwKcmqP26jRn7hflo69n0uTGKXyHiX~AdE0LdzTjOapCE~NSkw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Officials from Flagstaff and San Bernardino told a House Natural Resources hearing that locally driven, long-term collaborations and investment in fuels treatments have demonstrably reduced fire behavior near communities and provided models for other regions.

Neil Chapman, a wildland fire captain with the Flagstaff Fire Department, described the Flagstaff Watershed Protection Project, a locally driven program funded by a 2012 voter-approved $10 million bond that leveraged more than $40 million in partner contributions. Chapman said that combination of thinning, prescribed fire and a growing local timber industry has enabled Flagstaff to treat lands across jurisdictional boundaries and improve both forest and watershed health.

Chapman said the program's clean-air initiatives include distribution of HEPA-rated air purifiers and a network of indoor and outdoor air-quality monitors to support residents during prescribed burns and smoke events. \"No one should be subjected to low-quality indoor air due to beneficial fire management practices,\" Chapman said. He also noted that the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) completed a multi-million-acre NEPA process without litigation and serves as an example of a collaborative approach that aligns forest restoration and timber markets.

Dan Muncy, chief of the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District, described a long-running, multi-year removal of beetle-killed trees and millions of pounds of biomass that local leaders say reduced hazard after a sustained push. Muncy emphasized access and control lines: he showed photos that contrasted Civilian Conservation Corps-era control lines and access with current dense cover that makes suppression and early containment more difficult. He argued for clearer leadership and a single interagency path for land-management decisions so that local governments are not left to bridge regulatory fragmentation.

Both witnesses said maintenance funding is critical: fuels treatments can be effective only if there is a plan and money to maintain them over time, and they urged federal grants and programs to prioritize long-term outcomes, not only initial treatments.

The testimony included specific local figures cited by witnesses: Flagstaff's bond and matched partner funding totals, ForeFry/4FRI acreage references and past tree-removal counts in San Bernardino. Committee members asked for documentation and invited witnesses to share implementation lessons for replication.","Local fire officials from Flagstaff and San Bernardino described multi-decade collaborations, watershed protection investments and targeted treatments that officials say have reduced risk when projects are sustained and maintained.",{"_33":87,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":88,"_41":89,"_43":90,"_45":91,"_47":92,"_49":93,"_51":94,"_53":95,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":96,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":97,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":72,"_74":72},6240032,"Witnesses urge home hardening, neighborhood mitigation and program changes to stabilize insurance markets",826,3303000,4129000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3331695-b8cf96d9689e966b1fcb8ad84e84a38c&start=3303&end=4129","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3331695-b8cf96d9689e966b1fcb8ad84e84a38c/thumbnail_3303000.jpg","/articles/6240032/Witnesses-urge-home-hardening-neighborhood-mitigation-and-program-changes-to-stabilize-insurance-markets","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6240032-b3d5af8728c6616cc7edfd0530a18c90/orig.mp4?Expires=1770457253&Signature=WdntkJH2smBiS-maH~LRh9uV43zwO5i2fqNGQVJS9vYTtqEichLwQufRCM8MKEus0DvYVU6l3aQoiCB4gZWSXETTRd~xPHNzjfGX8bmN3Q00rjlPJ4jI6T2ty5FkYpxJysVl3GymrdnOsdxsMa38W05AE1AOT4ELCtPbO41Yfg8Pw1jtRI79Q7DEWS-~HUGZRuS5L-TxWG6bTbPA~vTSjhkqBpYibmubU80TBxFr-akx0tBKJcJ~7e2Hx6klzFLhhhXChEUAJ~BX0CdGLd~K8W3zg8I8jHftgSZpqGai1tGUVW04J4UoRxyAekFWLbY-zWQ1qt2sJXudSJPvEk3ysg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","At a House Natural Resources hearing, insurance and fire-safety experts urged federal, state and local policymakers to expand programs that harden homes and reduce neighborhood ignition risk to stabilize insurance markets and lower recovery costs after wildfire.

The hearing focused on the interface between structural vulnerability and insurer decisions. Roy Wright, president and CEO of the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS), described simple, evidence-based building measures — class A roofing, ember-resistant vents and clearing combustible materials within 5 feet of structures — and neighborhood actions such as spacing between houses and removal of connective fuels. \"These mitigation elements form the foundation of IBHS's Wildfire Prepared program,\" Wright said, adding that for many builders and developers the incremental cost of wildfire-resilient construction is small and improves marketability.

Wright and other witnesses said four policy pathways would help: (1) address fuel loads on federal, state and private lands; (2) provide tailored financial incentives, such as tax incentives, grants or disaster savings accounts to help homeowners make retrofits; (3) deliver consistent public messaging on key mitigation steps; and (4) strengthen state and local building codes and neighborhood standards where appropriate. Several witnesses and members said one program limitation is that the Community Wildfire Defense Grants historically could not be used for home-hardening projects; the senate version of the Fix Our Forest Act was described as widening eligible uses to include built-environment measures.

Lawmakers and witnesses tied the insurance market response to measurable mitigation: insurers look for documented risk reduction, and several witnesses recommended public registries or dashboards that show what fuel treatments have been completed and when maintenance is scheduled. \"Homeowners want their community to survive, and they want it to be insurable,\" Roy Wright testified. He urged consistent, verifiable documentation of mitigation work so insurers can more accurately price and offer coverage.

Members also raised equity and funding questions: who pays for retrofits, how to encourage adoption in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, and how to structure incentives so that both individual homeowners and community-scale projects can be sustained. No new funding was enacted in the hearing; members asked witnesses for technical follow-ups and evidence on cost-effectiveness and program design.","Insurance experts, fire officials and lawmakers told the committee that scaling home-hardening, consistent defensible-space standards and targeted financial incentives are necessary to keep properties insurable in high-risk wildfire areas.",{"_33":99,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":100,"_41":101,"_43":102,"_45":103,"_47":104,"_49":105,"_51":106,"_53":107,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":108,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":109,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":72,"_74":72},6240036,"Committee hearing spotlights Fix Our Forest Act, permitting delays and NEPA hurdles",1703,2540000,4243000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3331695-b8cf96d9689e966b1fcb8ad84e84a38c&start=2540&end=4243","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3331695-b8cf96d9689e966b1fcb8ad84e84a38c/thumbnail_2540000.jpg","/articles/6240036/Committee-hearing-spotlights-Fix-Our-Forest-Act-permitting-delays-and-NEPA-hurdles","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6240036-5a9d449876e2565579fd52d87cac268a/orig.mp4?Expires=1770457253&Signature=eOO3gaFxYb0KqiCoPDvttWH0~mwW-b9P16PhDHnQYnZxByBIteuzj4xclNuUPFJ-TOjppOaXOowtHQFm7efqpneNyohDx4jRCZ-ajEg5mFvNBVQssWy0zu1fMyODVDyGftTbvxoXmbMIkYe2CRjJr-CmFJdzJ1Q52eRKdFs-lwnAm5jRyGrC~AoNqVZG1FX50Z-J2~lmV6JXzIT5EAb1f3bWCejYZQT83K1JHV7hvd5h9~8rsGv5NUy9t5skJQapiIIqArcW4UYccdsLRq8kz0XpAVa0GlnZhpRnBJc2ig~jA6zHyAMQEZkt8PPKJWZrkJIXmI2qNjrpkMG-jCEurQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","House Natural Resources members and wildfire experts told a congressional hearing that slow permitting and fragmented decision-making have delayed forest treatments and worsened wildfire risk, and they pointed to the Fix Our Forest Act as a tool to speed work on the ground.

The issue matters because lawmakers and practitioners said the current permitting and environmental compliance timelines can take years, limiting the scale of thinning, prescribed burning and fuel-break projects that reduce wildfire hazard to communities in the wildland-urban interface.

Witnesses and members described cases where multi-year delays meant treatments that might have protected communities were completed only after destructive fires. \"If FOFA had been in place in 2020, this project could have taken place under 1 10,000-acre categorical exclusion,\" a committee member said, describing the Angeles National Forest fuel-break program and the delays that followed. Matt Weiner, CEO of MegaFire Action, urged lawmakers to adopt reforms that shorten planning timelines and create clearer avenues for landscape-scale treatments. \"Fix Our Forest Act will move the federal government towards a more proactive science based approach to wildfire management,\" Weiner said in his closing remarks.

Weiner and other witnesses framed the problem in three parts: (1) the time and cost of planning and assessments—often described as consuming a large share of project budgets—(2) the legal and administrative fragmentation across federal, state and local authorities that raises transaction costs, and (3) the lack of a single operational entity responsible for integrating technology and intelligence across jurisdictions. As Weiner noted, expedited authorities and well-designed categorical exclusions have been used in places such as the Lake Tahoe Basin and in sequoia restoration to accelerate treatments, and proponents argued the Fix Our Forest Act would codify and expand those tools.

Witnesses cautioned that reforms should preserve legitimate environmental review. Neil Chapman, a Flagstaff wildland fire captain and member of the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission, said collaborative NEPA processes can work: he cited the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI), where a multi-year NEPA process proceeded without litigation and now supports landscape-scale treatments. Chapman said the senate version of the legislation incorporated many commission recommendations and included implementation strategies, shared stewardship agreements and a community wildfire risk reduction program.

Members from both parties pressed for examples where streamlined review produced measurable decreases in risk and for assurances that any changes to NEPA or other review pathways would include safeguards. Local chiefs and district leaders urged better federal-local coordination and persistent leadership at the forest-supervisor level to ensure reforms are implemented consistently across forests.

The hearing did not produce formal legislative action or votes. Lawmakers asked witnesses for technical assistance and follow-up materials; the committee left the record open for additional responses and said staff would collect written follow-ups.

Looking ahead, witnesses and several members urged Congress to pair statutory permitting reforms with investments in workforce and long-term implementation funding so that faster approvals translate into more acres treated and maintained over time.","House Natural Resources members and witnesses at a committee hearing debated how permitting delays, NEPA processes and categorical exclusions affect the scale and speed of fuels-reduction projects and landscape restoration, focusing on the bipartisan Fix Our Forest Act as a framework for change.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Lawmakers and chiefs link road access, roadless policy and good-neighbor authority to wildfire outcomes

Flagstaff, San Bernardino officials point to local fuels projects and collaboration as models

Witnesses urge home hardening, neighborhood mitigation and program changes to stabilize insurance markets

Committee hearing spotlights Fix Our Forest Act, permitting delays and NEPA hurdles