Post-Disaster Reforestation and Restoration Act of 2025
The Post-Disaster Reforestation and Restoration Act of 2025 would require the Secretary of the Interior, working with heads of relevant federal land management agencies, to run a program aimed at restoring forests and ecosystems after unplanned disturbances (such as wildfires, insect/disease outbreaks, or severe weather) on lands managed by federal agencies and on Indian lands. The bill tasks the department with regularly identifying lands that won’t naturally regenerate, setting annual priority projects, and financing those projects through grants, contracts, Indian Self-Determination Act agreements, or cooperative agreements. It also requires substantial outreach to Tribes and other stakeholders and mandates periodic reports to Congress detailing lands, projects, funding, progress, and gaps, with recommendations for dedicated funding to address backlogs. The act defines key terms and focuses on ensuring seed and seedling availability to support restoration efforts. In short, the bill creates a federally coordinated, funded program to proactively reforest and restore ecosystems on federal and Indian lands after disasters, with emphasis on projects likely to require human assistance and on broad stakeholder engagement and reporting to Congress.
Key Points
- 1Establishment and scope
- 2- Creates a Post-Disaster Reforestation and Restoration Program within the Interior Department.
- 3- Applies to covered lands: federal lands/lands administered by covered agencies and Indian Forest Land or Rangeland; covered agencies include federal land management agencies and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
- 4- Targets unplanned disturbances that are unlikely to regenerate naturally.
- 5Annual identification and priority projects
- 6- Requires the Secretary to identify covered lands needing reforestation/restoration at least once per year (within one year of enactment and annually thereafter).
- 7- The Secretary, with agency heads, must propose a list of priority projects for each fiscal year and determine how to carry them out (grants, contracts, Indian Self-Determination Act contracts, or cooperative agreements).
- 8- May support seed and seedling supply as needed to meet project objectives.
- 9Outreach and collaboration
- 10- Mandates outreach to a broad set of stakeholders: Indian Tribes, States, territories, local governments, Alaska Native organizations, Native Hawaiian organizations, institutions of higher education, federal agencies with nearby lands, and other determined stakeholders.
- 11Reporting and accountability
- 12- Requires the Secretary to submit reports to relevant Congressional Committees not later than two years after enactment and annually thereafter.
- 13- Reports must cover: lands requiring reforestation/restoration, priority projects and progress, grants/contracts/cooperative agreements, outreach efforts, and assessments of seed/seedling/implementation gaps plus recommendations for dedicated funding to address backlogs.
- 14Definitions
- 15- Provides specific definitions for covered agency, covered lands, Indian tribe, natural regeneration, reforestation, restoration, unplanned disturbance, and other key terms to avoid ambiguity.