HR 4293119th CongressIn Committee

To amend the Sikes Act to increase flexibility with respect to cooperative and interagency agreements for land management off of installations.

Introduced: Jul 7, 2025

Defense & National SecurityEnvironment & Climate

Standard Summary

Comprehensive overview in 1-2 paragraphs

H.R. 4293 would amend the Sikes Act to broaden the circumstances under which cooperative and interagency agreements for land management off of military installations may be used. Specifically, it adds “the operations of the military installation or State-owned National Guard installation” to the existing trigger language, which currently references “current or anticipated military activities.” In plain terms, the bill lets military installations (including National Guard facilities owned by a state) participate in off-installation land management agreements tied to their operations, not just to active military activities. The goal is to increase flexibility and expand partnerships with other agencies and organizations to manage natural resources on lands outside the installation boundary.

Key Points

1The amendment expands the scope of authority for off-installation land management agreements to include the operations of military installations and State-owned National Guard installations.
2It maintains the core Sikes Act framework, but broadens who and what can be covered by cooperative and interagency arrangements related to land management beyond just current/anticipated military activities.
3The change explicitly includes National Guard installations owned by states in the scope of eligible cooperative agreements.
4The bill is a targeted adjustment to the Sikes Act, not a broad overhaul of all authorities; it adds flexibility rather than creating new programs from scratch.
5Introduced in the 119th Congress (House), July 7, 2025, by Rep. Ciscomani, and referred to the Natural Resources and Armed Services committees for consideration.

Impact Areas

Primary group/area affected:- Military installations and State-owned National Guard installations (and their management and operations personnel), plus federal, state, and local agencies and organizations involved in land and natural resource management.Secondary group/area affected:- Off-installation lands adjacent to or associated with installations where cooperative conservation and land-management activities occur (e.g., wildlife habitat restoration, ecosystem management, wildfire risk reduction) and the agencies that partner with DoD or the National Guard.Additional impacts:- Potentially smoother establishment of partnerships with other federal, state, local governments, tribes, and non-governmental organizations for land-management projects off installation boundaries.- Could influence funding decisions and project timelines by enabling broader collaboration tied to installation operations and National Guard facilities.- May raise considerations for coordination with state and local land-use plans, environmental reviews, and regulatory processes as more off-installation management activities are pursued.

Generated by gpt-5-nano on Oct 7, 2025