Joint Chiefs Reauthorization Act of 2025
The Joint Chiefs Reauthorization Act of 2025 would reauthorize and broaden the Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnership program, which operates as a collaboration between the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the U.S. Forest Service. The bill amends the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to expand the program’s authorized purposes to include recovery from wildfires and the enhancement of soil, water, and related natural resources. It also strengthens interagency coordination—requiring NRCS’s Chief to align with the Forest Service Chief and to use the best available science—and ties program activities to post-wildfire considerations and state-level forest/wildlife/water plans. The measure adds a safeguard to ensure program projects are consistent with the Roadless Area Conservation rule and related Forest Service regulations, and it extends the authorization period for the program through 2029 (removing a prior endpoint of 2023). Introduced in the Senate in July 2025 by Senators Bennet and Hoeven, the bill seeks to extend and refine landscape restoration efforts across federal lands to address wildfire impacts and resource restoration.
Key Points
- 1Expands authorized purposes of the program to include post-wildfire recovery and the enhancement of soil, water, and related natural resources.
- 2Requires agency coordination between the NRCS and the Forest Service, including consideration of each other’s management plans and use of best available science for forestry practices.
- 3Adds explicit references to post-wildfire impacts in program considerations and to align activities with state forest action plans or similar plans (e.g., state wildlife or water plans).
- 4Ensures program activities comply with, or are not inconsistent with, the Forest Service’s Roadless Area Conservation rules and related regulatory provisions (66 Fed. Reg. 3244; 36 CFR Part 294).
- 5Extends the program’s authorization period through 2029, rather than ending earlier (previous endpoint referenced as 2023 in prior text).