Senate Approps News

NAFSR sent out the below summary last week. Looks like some of the “ideas many of us think are bad” about R&D and S&PF are off the table.

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Public Lands

• The bill rejects President Trump’s efforts to shortchange America’s cherished landscapes and ensures that funding for operations of the National Park System, the National Wildlife Refuge System, National Conservation Lands, and the National Forest System is fully protected at enacted levels.
• The bill provides the funding necessary to maintain personnel at prior year levels and requires the necessary staffing levels to be able to provide visitor services, Tribal consultation, ensure public safety, and carry out the science necessary to respond to growing natural threats and increased visitation.

National Park Service

• The bill provides $3.27 billion for the National Park Service, including $2.87 billion for the operation of the National Park System, which is equal to the enacted level and is $145 million above the level in House Republicans’ bill and $875 million higher than the level requested by President Trump.
• The bill provides the resources to sustain fiscal year 2024 staffing levels—rejecting staffing cuts made since January—and to support a full complement of seasonal staff during fiscal year 2026.
• The bill also provides $168 million for the Historic Preservation Fund and protects all 433 national park units from being sold off or otherwise eliminated from the National Park System.

Forest Service

• The bill provides $6.17 billion for the Forest Service, excluding additional funding for the Wildfire Suppression Operations Reserve.
• Of this amount, $3.7 billion is provided for the Forest Service’s non-wildland fire management responsibilities and provides sufficient funds to sustain appropriate staffing levels.
• The bill rejects the steep $1.4 billion cuts to the Forest Service’s non-fire budget proposed by President Trump.
• The bill provides funding for the Forest Service to improve forest restoration and fire risk reduction efforts on federal lands and through cross-boundary partnerships.
• It also provides $175 million for hazardous fuels reduction projects, $31 million for the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, and $6 million for the Legacy Roads and Trails program to prioritize fish passage improvements and repurposing unnecessary roads as trails.
• The bill continues funding for state grant programs and federal and cooperative research that were proposed for termination in President Trump’s budget request, including an increase of $8 million for State and Volunteer Fire Assistance Grants, and a total of $8 million for Joint Fire Science research.

Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF)

• The bill allocates $900 million for federal land acquisition and financial assistance to states provided through the LWCF under the Great American Outdoors Act.
• This program is critical for improving recreational access to our federal lands, protecting iconic landscapes, delivering grants to states and local governments to create and protect urban parks and open spaces, and providing farmers and ranchers with easements to allow them to continue to steward their private lands in the face of development pressures.

Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT)

• The bill fully funds payments to counties through the PILT program, which are estimated at a total of $550 million.

Protects Full Funding for Wildland Firefighting and Supporting Federal Wildland Firefighters

• The bill provides funding for the permanent pay fix and job series for federal wildland firefighters to prevent a devastating pay cut for the firefighting workforce.
• The pay fix was enacted as part of the fiscal year 2025 continuing resolution and began as a temporary bonus for Forest Service and Department of the Interior firefighters provided in the Infrastructure and Investment in Jobs Act.
• The bill bars consolidation of federal wildland firefighting into one agency in fiscal year 2026 and specifically provides funding to continue wildland firefighting using the longstanding practice of funding both the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of the Interior to allow Congress to consider legislative proposals for such a major change.

Wildfire Suppression

• The bill fully funds essential wildfire preparedness and suppression efforts by providing $4.25 billion for wildfire suppression, of which $2.85 billion is for the Wildfire Suppression Operations Reserve Fund.
• The Reserve Fund provides the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior an assured amount of funding to be used when major fire activity requires expenditures exceeding regular base suppression operations funding. This funding level—in addition to carryover balances—will meet projected needs for fiscal year 2026 wildfires.

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Here is a link to Faith Campbell’s take (focusing on invasive species)..below are some parts that interested me.

The Senate bill provides a total of $8.6 billion for the Forest Service. This includes $308,497,000 for the Research and Development program. This is an increase of $8.5 million above funding for the current year. The Senate bill specifically supports retaining the five regional offices and experimental forests. Remember, the Trump Administration had proposed to eliminate the Research program – other than Forest Inventory and Analysis. The Committee’s report link specifies that the USFS should prioritize projects requested by or benefitting the agency’s mission, not requests by external entities. The benefit to the agency and public should be stated before a project is initiated.  The report specifies funding for several issues, including/

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There is also $19.6 million to support Congressionally-directed components of Forest Resource Information and Analysis – which is apparently separate from the FIA program.

?? Perhaps someone here understands that.

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Reminder: the House Appropriations bill provides $301,706,000 for the research account – almost $7 million less than the Senate. The House’ allocation for the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program is $34 million. Thus, there is a $9 million difference in funding levels – a significant challenge to reconcile. How will funding for the already-underfunded invasive species programs fare?

Other groups, no doubt, have their own summaries.. please put any you run across in the comments.