On Thursday, Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado and John Hoeven of North Dakota and U.S. Reps. Joe Neguse of Colorado and Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota introduced the Joint Chiefs Reauthorization Act of 2023.
This act would reauthorize the United States Department of Agriculture’s Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnership Initiative, according to a news release Thursday. The legislation is co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas of Oregon.
The Joint Chiefs program was launched by the USDA in 2014. Since its beginning, the program has “supported 93 projects in 40 states and Puerto Rico to treat 300,000 acres of hazardous fuels, restore 29,000 acres in priority watersheds, and enhance 200,000 acres of wildlife habitat,” the news release stated.
According to the website congress.gov, the bill was read twice in the Senate and passed on to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Bennet serves as the chair of the Subcommittee of Conservation, Climate, Forestry and Natural Resources.
Bennet and Hoeven passed an amendment to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to authorize the Joint Chiefs program in 2021, according to a news release on Bennet’s website.
“This amendment responds directly to the growing wildfire risk we face out West by investing in a broadly supported program that has been a clear success,” Bennet said after the passage of the amendment in 2021.
“The Joint Chiefs program has been a model of voluntary, collaborative efforts to improve the resilience of our landscapes across both public and private lands,” Bennet said in the news release Thursday.
According to the news release, the bill would “reauthorize the Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnership between the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service and Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service to improve the health and resilience of forest landscapes and grasslands across federal and nonfederal land.” Other actions would include:
- Supporting voluntary projects that reduce wildfire risk, protect water resources, and more across public and private lands.
- Prioritizing projects designed to reduce wildfire risks around watersheds, that employ collaboration, or increase business and workforce opportunities in forests.
- Requiring the USDA to provide public notice and make information available to applicable parties.
- Requiring a review of delivery, data, and outcomes of the program to improve accountability, and establishing annual reporting requirements.
- Authorizing $90 million annually for the program, dedicating at least 40% each to the USFS and the NRCS, while remaining funds may go to technical assistance, development, or local capacity.
“The Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnership helps keep communities safe from wildfire threats while restoring the overall health of our forests,” said Scott Miller, Southwest regional director for The Wilderness Society.
“Joint Chiefs programming supports collaboration across public-private boundaries so work that improves the resilience of forested landscapes can be implemented when and where it is needed most,” said Dana Guinn, Southwest partnership manager with the Forest Stewards Guild.
