Neguse unveils legislative package aimed at shoring up wildfire mitigation, research

U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse on Tuesday released a bipartisan set of bills aimed at improving how federal and state agencies respond to wildfires. 

The legislation, introduced in the House of Representatives, is co-led by Neguse and other Democratic and Republican House members. 

It comes in response to a 350-page report released last year by the federal Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission that called for more cross-jurisdictional approaches for fighting wildfires along with reforms to current strategies. 

---

---

“The wildfire crisis in the United States is urgent, severe and far reaching,” reads the report’s executive summary. “Among the core themes of the commission’s recommendations is a call for greater coordination, interoperability, collaboration and, in some cases, simplification within the wildfire system.”

The legislative package introduced this week builds on the report’s recommendations and consists of three bills: 

---

---

• The Cross-Boundary Wildfire Solutions Act, which would mandate a study to identify gaps in federal programs and rules that inhibit wildfire mitigation across federal and non-federal jurisdictions while recommending ways to improve current practices 
• The Wildfire Coordination Act, which would establish an advisory board with members from various federal, state, local, tribal and non-federal groups that would be responsible for coordinating federal wildfire research and translating it into practical applications 
• The Wildfire Risk Evaluation Act, which would require a comprehensive review of the wildfire landscape in the U.S. every four years, outlining changes in environments, assessing wildfire management challenges and evaluating the intersection of wildfires and public health — all to inform the development of long-term strategies

In a Sept. 24 news release, Neguse said these initiatives “will ultimately invest in wildfire science and the overall resilience of our communities to reduce the future threat of these disasters.” 

The proposals received a flurry of endorsements from national and local emergency response and environmental groups, including several based in Colorado’s High Country. 

Those include Eagle County Wildfire Collaborative, Grand County Wildfire Council, Routt County Wildfire Council and Summit Fire & EMS.

“Additional coordination across agencies is critical in completing wildfire mitigation and fuels work at a faster pace than we can currently achieve,” said Grand County Wildfire Council Executive Director Jessica Rahn, in a statement. “Our state and nation’s best success stories of homes and communities saved during a wildfire are backed by science, and we support an evaluative process that enhances wildfire preparedness and response.”

Nationally, 2024 is on track to see more acres of land burned by wildfires than normal, according to data from the National Interagency Fire Center. As of Wednesday, Sept. 25, more than 38,000 fires this year have burned over 7.3 million acres. The 10-year, year-to-date average for acres burned is just under 6 million.

In Colorado, some of the largest wildfires this year include the Alexander Mountain Fire in Larimer County (9,668 acres), the Spruce Creek Fire in Montezuma County (5,699 acres) and the Stone Canyon Fire in Boulder County (1,553 acres), according to The Colorado Sun’s wildfire tracker. 

In a statement, Democratic California Rep. Josh Harder, a co-leader of Neguse’s legislative package, championed the bill’s bipartisan support. California Republican Young Kim and New York Republican Marc Molinaro are the other key sponsors of the package. 

“This isn’t a partisan political issue — fires and their toxic smoke affect everyone,” Harder stated. “Our families and our communities are counting on us to get this done.”