H.R. 6154 — Regional Leadership in Wildland Fire Research Act of 2025

This section defines 16 terms for purposes of the Act, including (1) appropriate committees of Congress (i.e., specified agriculture, natural resources, energy, and appropriations committees of the Senate and House, plus others with wildland fire research authority); (2) Board (i.e., National Center Coordination Board established by section 3(c)(1)); (3) career pathway (as defined in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act); (4) Chief (i.e., Chief of the Forest Service); (5) Federal science agency (as defined in the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010); (6) Indian Tribe and Tribal organization (as defined in the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act); (7) institution of higher education (as defined in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965); (8) land-grant colleges and universities (as defined in the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977); (9) minority-serving institution (i.e., institutions defined in specified paragraphs of the Higher Education Act of 1965); (10) National Laboratory (as defined in the Energy Policy Act of 2005); (11) regional center (i.e., regional wildland fire research center established under section 3); (12) Secretaries (i.e., Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary of the Interior); (13) wildland fire (i.e., non-structure fire in vegetation or natural fuels, including unplanned ignitions or prescribed fires); (14) wildland fire management agencies (i.e., Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Indian Affairs); and (15) wildland fire research (i.e., research on causes, behavior, mitigation, impacts, rehabilitation, and safety strategies for wildland fires).

This section revises the Institutes program (16 U.S.C. 6704)—previously limited to three designated locations in Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado to promote adaptive ecosystem management for wildfire risk reduction and forest health in the interior West—by establishing a competitive process to select and create not fewer than 8 regional wildland fire research centers at institutions of higher education or land-grant colleges and universities. The Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior must initiate a pilot program with not fewer than 2 centers as soon as practicable after enactment (subject to appropriations) and establish the remaining centers within 2 years thereafter, prioritizing institutions with existing wildland fire research programs, federal/academic partnerships, Joint Fire Science Program involvement, or minority-serving status, and requiring at least 1 center in each of 8 regions (Alaska; California; Pacific Northwest; Pacific Islands; Plains and Northeast; Rockies; Southeast; Southwest). Each center must coordinate wildland fire research with federal agencies (e.g., EPA, NOAA, NSF, NASA, DOE, Forest Service, USGS) and others; develop predictive models, technologies, and tools for fire/smoke behavior, vegetation response, land management, smoke impacts, and post-fire risks; support decision-making systems; create career training and prescribed fire programs; manage data per FAIR principles; and make work publicly available. This section also establishes the National Center Coordination Board—composed of one representative per center, co-chaired by the NOAA Administrator and Forest Service Chief—to set science/data protocols and priorities; coordinate data collection and model development; and prevent duplication among centers, universities, federal agencies, and state organizations.