On Tuesday, December 2, 2025, at 3:00 p.m. ET, the Public Lands, Forests, and Mining Subcommittee will receive testimony on a broad slate of pending bills that could significantly reshape public-land management, forest health policy, mineral leasing, land conveyances, recreation access, and wildfire response across the West.
Bills on the agenda range from legislation addressing forest-health and wildfire prevention, to proposals affecting wilderness designations, public-land transfers, recreation and travel-management plans, and federal mineral-leasing law. This hearing represents one of the few opportunities in the 119th Congress for lawmakers — and stakeholders like our supporters — to influence the direction of public-lands policy before decisions advance to the full Committee.
BRC has strongly advocated for the Historic Roadways Protection Act to fight for the roads in Moab that were previously closed. Contact the subcommittee and make your voice heard that this is crucial legislation that needs to pass.
👍 Historic Roadways Protection Act: would prohibit the use of federal funds by the Secretary of the Interior (via Bureau of Land Management) to finalize or implement new travel-management plans in certain Utah public-lands areas until all pending Revised Statute 2477 (R.S. 2477) cases have been adjudicated. (After the form find more bills the Senate is considering and where stand on them.)
Along with this bill there are many more. Many we support while many we oppose, see the list below of the pending bills:
👍 Western Wildfire Support Act of 2025: The bill would strengthen the federal government’s wildfire‐management capacity by authorizing expanded post-fire recovery efforts, improving coordination and funding for fire suppression, research, and rehabilitation, and supporting adoption of new wildfire-detection and response technologies.
👍 Wildfire Prevention Act of 2025: would require the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to significantly increase hazardous-fuel reduction—through mechanical thinning and prescribed fire—so that by 2029 they are treating at least 40% more acres than the 2019–2023 average. The bill also directs the agencies to improve tracking of fuel-reduction work, expand the use of targeted grazing where appropriate, and launch pilot programs to test new wildfire-prevention and detection technologies.
Restoring State Mineral Revenues Act: would amend the Mineral Leasing Act by eliminating a current administrative fee charged on federal mineral leases. It also updates cross-references in related statutes (covering acquired lands, geothermal leasing, and oil & gas royalty management) so the statutory language remains consistent after the removal.
👎 Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act: The bill would designate various 71,000 acres as new wilderness areas, recreation-management zones, and conservation lands within Colorado’s public lands (including additions to existing wilderness areas in the White River National Forest and other National Forest lands).
👍 Redesignate the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in Casper, Wyoming, as the “Barbara L. Cubin National Historic Trails Interpretive Center”: Under the bill, any reference to the old name in statutes, maps, regulations, documents, and other U.S. government records would be updated to the new name.
👎 Oregon Recreation Enhancement Act: would designate certain lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in Oregon as wilderness and national recreation areas. 60,000 new acres would be designated as Wilderness. The bill also proposes to withdraw certain lands in Curry County and Josephine County from all forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under public-land laws and to restrict new mining claims, effectively locking in protections for those areas.
👍 Wildfire Response and Preparedness Act of 2025: would require the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to set mandatory standards for wildfire response on federal lands — including a rapid-response goal so that fires are evaluated soon after ignition and suppression assets (crews or aircraft) are deployed quickly. In addition, the bill calls for a unified wildfire response framework across federal land agencies, including a consolidated budget, single federal point of contact for fire incidents, and improved coordination and reporting requirements.
👎 Smith River National Recreation Area Expansion Act: The bill would expand the boundaries of the Smith River National Recreation Area (SRNRA), adding lands — including areas in southern Oregon — to the recreation area and updating the official maps and management plan. It would also designate certain rivers and headwater streams in Oregon as “wild” under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, extending protections to their water quality, aquatic habitat, and surrounding lands.
Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act: the bill rearranges land ownership and management across a broad swath of southern Nevada — combining tribal trust land expansions, wilderness and conservation designations, boundary adjustments, and conveyances to local governments — under the banner of conservation and economic development.
👍 Small County PILT Parity Act: The bill revises how the federal “Payment in Lieu of Taxes” (PILT) program distributes funding to counties with low populations. It lowers the population threshold for small-county status (from 4,999 down to 999) and adjusts the payment calculation formula across a new sliding scale for counties between 1,000 and 50,000 people. The effect is to expand eligibility and potentially increase payments for very small counties — helping them better offset revenue losses from federally managed lands within their borders.
👍 Pershing County Economic Development and Conservation Act: would authorize BLM to sell or exchange certain federal lands in Pershing County, Nevada, to resolve long-standing checkerboard land-ownership issues and support local economic development. The bill also designates 160,590 acres of new wilderness areas, adjusts or releases certain wilderness-study areas, and transfers specific parcels into trust for the Lovelock Paiute Tribe. Overall, it restructures federal, tribal, and local land management in the county by combining new conservation designations with land disposals and tribal-trust expansions.
👍 Amend the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993 to modify the cost-sharing requirement for conservation projects carried out by a qualified youth or conservation corps, and for other purposes: Specifically, it aims to lower the financial burden (or change cost-sharing formulas) for groups doing restoration, fuels reduction, maintenance, or other conservation work — thereby making it easier for federal agencies to partner with youth/conservation corps.
👎 Pecos Watershed Protection Act: would withdraw certain federal lands in the Pecos-Watershed area of New Mexico from all forms of mineral entry, leasing, or mining claims — effectively protecting those lands from future mineral development.
It also designates about 11,599 acres of national forest land in the area as the Thompson Peak Wilderness Area, adding them to the National Wilderness Preservation System.
👎 Sarvis Creek Wilderness Completion Act: would amend the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993 to add roughly 6,817 acres of land within the Routt National Forest to the existing Sarvis Creek Wilderness. The bill preserves tribal treaty and cultural‐use rights, and allows the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out necessary wildfire, insect, or disease control under wilderness law guidelines.
👍 Moab UMTRA Project Transition Act of 2025: would transfer the former uranium-mill tailings cleanup site near Moab, Utah from the federal government to Grand County, Utah, once remediation is completed and regulatory safety standards are met. The transfer would be at no cost to Grand County, and would retain certain U.S. water rights if necessary to allow ongoing groundwater remediation or monitoring. The bill also prohibits Grand County from reconveying the land to private entities or nonprofits — ensuring the land remains publicly held after transfer.
New Mexico Land Grant-Mercedes Historical or Traditional Use Cooperation and Coordination Act: requires federal land agencies to establish MOUs with New Mexico’s historic land grant-mercedes communities to recognize and permit their traditional, non-commercial uses on federal lands. These uses include gathering wood or plants, small-scale grazing, water access, hunting and fishing, and caring for historic or cultural sites. The bill also allows reduced fees or waivers for these activities and directs agencies to account for these traditional rights in land-use planning.
To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to provide that Alexander Creek, Incorporated, is recognized as a Village Corporation under that Act, and for other purposes: As a condition of that recognition, Alexander Creek would negotiate with the federal government to settle aboriginal land claims and any other claims, converting applicable legal status — including resource payments and corporate structure — under the new designation.
👎 M.H. Dutch Salmon Greater Gila Wild and Scenic River Act: would designate several segments of the Gila River system in New Mexico — including parts of Apache Creek, Black Canyon Creek, and other tributaries — as “wild and scenic rivers,” bringing them under the protection of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. In addition, the bill transfers administrative jurisdiction over certain federal lands in New Mexico in connection with that designation, effectively altering management oversight to reflect the new protected status.
👎 Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act: would designate or expand roughly 126,554 acres in the Olympic National Forest (Washington) as wilderness, adding numerous new or expanded wilderness units. It also would designate multiple rivers in Olympic National Forest and within Olympic National Park as “wild and scenic rivers,” protecting them under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act from future development and extraction.
👍 Brian Head Town Land Conveyance Act: The bill directs the U.S. Forest Service (via the Secretary of Agriculture) to convey a specific ~24-acre parcel of National Forest System land within Dixie National Forest to Brian Head, Utah, at no cost to the town. Once transferred, the land would leave the national forest boundary — the forest’s map and boundary would be modified accordingly — and the town may use it for public-works facilities or other local purposes it deems necessary.
👍 Chugach Alaska Land Exchange Oil Spill Recovery Act of 2025: would authorize a land-exchange between the federal government and the Chugach Alaska Corporation. Under the bill, non-federal land owned by the corporation would be exchanged for certain federal lands in the Chugach Region of Alaska — a swap designed in part to support oil-spill recovery and remediation efforts.
👍 Cross-Boundary Wildfire Solutions Act: directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study current federal laws, programs, and regulations that help or hinder wildfire mitigation when fires cross boundaries between federal, state, local, tribal, and private lands. The study must identify where improvements are needed — including funding access, cooperation among agencies, and legal or regulatory barriers — and deliver recommendations within two years to help make cross-boundary fire management more efficient and effective.
👎 Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2025: would codify the existing Roadless Rule into federal law — permanently protecting all “inventoried roadless areas” within the National Forest System by prohibiting new road construction, road reconstruction, or logging in those areas. The bill defines inventoried roadless areas exactly as areas restricted under the Roadless Rule. It aims to safeguard clean water, wildlife habitat, and back-country recreation opportunities, while still allowing many traditional forest uses under a multiple-use framework — such as recreation, hydropower where allowed, and other activities outside roadless areas.
American Voices in Federal Lands Act: amends the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) to redefine who counts “public involvement” in BLM rule-making: it replaces the term “citizens” with “citizens of the United States,” meaning only U.S. citizens’ public comments would be accepted. The bill also mandates that public-comment submissions use an anti-automation verification (similar to CAPTCHA) to block comments from bots or AI, and it restricts regulatory rule-making for public lands so that existing regulations remain in place until any new rules are formally adopted.
👍 Wyoming Education Trust Modernization Act: would amend the 1890 law establishing the Wyoming Education Trust to change how public lands are disposed of under that program—modifying which lands or what proceeds come from land sales/leases for educational funding. In effect, the bill updates the original framework for using public-land revenue to finance education in Wyoming.
