ACRES Act

The ACRES Act would require the Secretaries of Agriculture (for National Forest System lands) and Interior (for public lands and National Park System) to provide more accurate, standardized reporting on hazardous fuels reduction activities on federal lands. Starting with the first fiscal year after enactment, these reports would be included in the President’s budget materials and would detail, for the preceding year, how many acres were treated, where those acres are located (including within the wildland-urban interface), changes in wildfire risk, the types of treatments conducted, costs per acre, the region, and the measured effectiveness in reducing wildfire risk. The act also mandates the development of standardized data-tracking procedures, verification methods, and analysis of short- and long-term effectiveness, with a requirement to distinguish acres inside versus outside the wildland-urban interface. All reports would be publicly accessible on agency websites. Additionally, the Act requires a GAO study within two years to assess implementation and data-tracking limitations. The bill defines hazardous fuels reduction as vegetation management activities like mechanical thinning and prescribed burning, but not the awarding of contracts, and it states that no new funds are authorized to carry out these requirements (they must come from existing appropriations).