The hearing will be held on Thursday, October 21, 2021, at 10:00 am in Room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC.
The purpose of this hearing is to receive testimony on the following bills:
- S. 1734, to direct the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to encourage and expand the use of prescribed fire on land managed by the Department of the Interior or the Forest Service, with an emphasis on units of the National Forest System in the western United States, and for other purposes (National Prescribed Fire Act of 2021);
- S.1964, to amend the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996 to provide for the establishment of a Ski Area Fee Retention Account, and for other purposes (Ski Hill Resources for Economic Development Act of 2021);
- S. 2404, to improve Federal activities relating to wildfires, and for other purposes (Western Wildfire Support Act of 2021);
- S. 2436, to amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to establish emergency fireshed management areas, and for other purposes (FIRESHEDS Act);
- S. 2561, to amend the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to provide that a land resource management plan or land use plan approved, amended, or revised under those Acts shall not be considered to be a continuing Federal agency action or constitute a discretionary Federal involvement or control for a distinct Federal purpose, and for other purposes;
- S. 2564, to establish a pilot program under which the Chief of the Forest Service may use alternative dispute resolution in lieu of judicial review for certain projects (Protect Collaboration for Healthier Forests Act);
- S. 2650, to provide mandatory funding for hazardous fuels reduction projects on certain Federal land, and for other purposes (Wildfire Resilient Communities Act);
- S. 2806, to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to select and implement landscape-scale forest restoration projects, to assist communities in increasing their resilience to wildfire, and for other purposes (Wildfire Emergency Act of 2021); and
- S. 2836, to improve revegetation and carbon sequestration activities in the United States, and for other purposes (America’s Revegetation and Carbon Sequestration Act of 2021).
The Committee will follow guidelines developed in consultation with the Office of the Attending Physician and the Senate Rules Committee to protect the health of members, staff, and the public. Pursuant to this guidance, Senate office buildings are not open to the public other than official business visitors and credentialed press at this time. Accordingly, in-person visitors cannot be accommodated at this hearing.
The hearing will be webcast live on the committee’s website, and an archived video will be available shortly after the hearing concludes. Witness testimony will be available on the website at the start of the hearing.