This commentary is by James Campbell, of Brooklyn, New York. He is the director of federal affairs at Megafire Action, a nonprofit organization committed to ending the megafire crisis through a holistic approach to land management, wildfire response and community resilience.
When people think about wildfires, Vermont is hardly at the top of the list. But wildfire risk for the Green Mountain State is growing amid more frequent hot and dry conditions.
The wildfire danger facing Vermont and much of the U.S. today is far different — and growing far greater — than it was for most of our nation’s history. While some amount of fire is a natural part of ecosystems across the country, especially out West, decades of mismanagement and accelerating climate change have driven an alarming rise in catastrophic and severe wildfires that devastate communities, landscapes and lives.
All of these factors have boiled over to turn wildfire seasons into wildfire years. Wildfires also fuel a vicious cycle of cascading disasters contributing significantly to drought, diminished water quality and making land more prone to flooding. Additionally, wildfires are a major contributor of carbon emissions further fueling the climate crisis.
Fortunately, this crisis is solvable, and a big part of the solution is making its way through Congress right now. At its core, S.1462, known as the “Fix Our Forests Act,” tackles two key challenges — permitting reform and technology adoption for improved decision making — that are essential to scaling up effective wildfire mitigation.
The bill would achieve this by establishing a new community wildfire risk reduction program to help communities become more fire resistant, creating a wildfire intelligence center to embed cutting-edge science and technology into fire prediction and response, and by making it easier to reduce buildups of dead wood and brush that significantly increase wildfire risk.
In particular, a wildfire intelligence center would provide tools to help small fire departments — like many in Vermont — predict fire or smoke behavior.
In an era of sharp political divisions, particularly around environmental policy, S.1462 stands out as a notable instance of bipartisan agreement. First introduced during the Biden administration, it was reintroduced earlier this year and swiftly passed in the U.S. House with the support of every Republican and 64 Democrats. A bipartisan group of senators recently negotiated and released a companion bill that is even stronger.
Opponents have argued that S.1462 would stifle public input, roll back environmental protections and remove science from land management. These arguments are simply false.
The bill appropriately balances the importance of community engagement and environmental review with the need to dramatically increase the pace and scale at which we implement wildfire resilience projects, including selective thinning and prescribed fire to reduce fire risk on public lands.
Scientific evidence shows that active forest management as envisioned under S.1462 would not only build wildfire resilience, but it also would directly mitigate future droughts, leading to less fire-prone conditions and less ecological and community damage overall.
The legislation would also substantially strengthen how we incorporate science into land and fire management by providing real-time analytical services, comprehensively modeling wildfire, consolidating air quality data, and establishing information systems accessible to federal, state, local and tribal governments.
No single policy will eliminate the risk of catastrophic wildfires, but S.1462 would advance the policies and practices needed to reduce the threat of megafires, protect communities, and restore the health of fire-adapted landscapes.
It is essential that Congress continue building upon its bipartisan efforts to change policy with additional investments in wildfire-fighting workforce, fuels management, home hardening and grid resilience, and emerging technologies.
Progress means not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, and S.1462 would certainly be progress. It represents months of negotiations and input from stakeholders across the ideological spectrum. Currently, the bill is awaiting a markup in the Senate Committee on Agriculture.
Vermont not only has a direct stake in this bill as the state’s wildfire risk grows, but also because Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., is a member of the committee. That means he is set to cast a vote on whether to move the bill forward to the full Senate.
If passed, S.1462 would be an important step to ensuring that fire is less of a threat for Vermonters — and all Americans.
