Bipartisan Fix Our Forests Act Nears Passage, Splitting Environmental Allies and Loggers

A sweeping bipartisan bill named the Fix Our Forests Act is nearing enactment, seeking to accelerate forest-management actions such as mechanical thinning and prescribed burns on public and tribal lands by easing regulatory and legal barriers. The proposal enjoys strong backing from Republicans and the timber industry, who contend that lengthy permitting has left forests over-dense and vulnerable to high-severity fires that now scorch far more area than in the 1980s. Opposition comes from environmental groups like the Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity, warning that reduced review could lead to heavy logging rather than careful thinning.

The Nature Conservancy and other organizations endorse the act, citing the urgent threat of climate-driven wildfires to communities and ecosystems. Democratic support is divided, with roughly half of Western-state Democrats voting for it, while most Democrats elsewhere oppose. The legislation awaits a final Senate vote before the Jan. 3, 2027 deadline and could reshape forest-management policy nationwide.