S. 647 — Regional Leadership in Wildland Fire Research Act of 2025

This section defines 20 terms for purposes of the Act, including "Administrator" as the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; "appropriate committees of Congress" as specified Senate and House committees (e.g., Commerce, Science, and Transportation; Science, Space, and Technology); "institution of higher education" as that term is defined in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)) (i.e., public or nonprofit institutions providing education beyond secondary school that admit qualified students and are accredited); "wildland fire" as any non-structure fire in vegetation or natural fuels (including unplanned ignitions or prescribed fires); and "wildland fire research" as research on fire causes, behavior, mitigation, impacts, rehabilitation, and firefighter safety.

This section replaces the three existing Institutes—located at Northern Arizona University, New Mexico Highlands University, and a Colorado institution—to promote adaptive ecosystem management for wildfire risk reduction and forest restoration in the interior West (under 16 U.S.C. 6704) with a competitive process to select and establish at least seven regional wildland fire research centers at institutions of higher education or land-grant colleges and universities. It requires at least one center in each of seven regions—(1) Alaska, (2) California, (3) Northern Rockies, (4) Pacific Northwest, (5) Pacific Islands, (6) Southeast, and (7) Southwest—prioritizing institutions with existing wildland fire research programs, federal/academic partnerships, Joint Fire Science Program participation, or minority-serving status. Each regional center must coordinate wildland fire research; develop predictive models, technologies, and tools for fire/smoke behavior, vegetation response, land treatments, post-fire risks, and decision support; create career training programs; and manage data under FAIR principles with full public access. This section also establishes a National Center Coordination Board—composed of one member from each regional center, co-chaired by the Administrator and the Chief—to set science/data priorities informed by agency needs; coordinate data collection and research to avoid duplication across federal, state, and academic entities; and support adoption of center outputs by wildland fire management agencies. The Board must meet quarterly and hold annual public stakeholder meetings.