The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation joined 45 other conservation, natural resources and/or sportsmen groups in urging leadership of the U.S. Senate to bring the Fix Our Forests Act to the Senate floor for a vote. 

The legislation, which already overwhelmingly passed the U.S. House, would increase the pace of active forest management resulting in enhanced wildlife habitat, reduced risk of high-intensity wildfires, better protection of public safety and improved overall forest health. View the letter below. 

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December 5, 2025  

 

The Honorable John Thune  

Majority Leader  

United States Senate  

Washington, DC 20510  

 

The Honorable Charles Schumer 

Minority Leader 

United States Senate 

Washington, DC 20510 

Dear Majority Leader Thune and Minority Leader Schumer,  

On behalf of America’s sportsmen and women, forest industry, state forestry agencies, and other conservation organizations, we write to express our strong support for the Fix Our Forests Act. Given the widespread bipartisan support that both the House and Senate versions of the Fix Our Forests Act received, we encourage you to bring the legislation to the floor and ensure its passage to modernize federal forest and wildfire management to conserve fish and wildlife habitat, support sustainable forestry, and safeguard communities from severe wildfires.  

Improving forest health through active management is essential to increasing resilience to wildfires, and the Fix Our Forests Act enables land managers to increase the pace of landscape-level forest restoration work to reduce wildfire risk by expanding collaborative tools, streamlining processes, and promoting cross-boundary management and coordination among federal agencies and state, Tribal, and local governments. The legislation addresses the Cottonwood decision that has hindered wildfire risk reduction projects since 2015, promotes post-wildfire restoration efforts, and increases transparency for federal land management hazardous fuels work, among other innovative programs to restore forest and watershed health and technologies to increase community safety. With more acres in the wildland-urban interface (the WUI grew by 31% between 1990 and 2020) and longer wildfire seasons, as well as wildfires and other forest health threats that are more frequent and intense, the Fix Our Forests Act provides the science-based proactive management approach needed to prevent catastrophic wildfires.  

The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee advanced S. 1462 (18-5), following the House’s passage of H.R. 471 (279-141) earlier this year, demonstrating broad bipartisan support for increasing forest resiliency through the reforms and programs in the bill. We would like to thank Senators Curtis, Hickenlooper, Padilla, and Sheehy as well as Chairman Westerman and Congressman Peters for their bipartisan leadership on the Fix Our Forests Acts, and we hope you will prioritize the legislation before the next wildfire season to mitigate wildfire risks for wildlife, watersheds and communities.  

Sincerely, 

American Woodcock Society  

American Sportfishing Association  

Archery Trade Association  

Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.)  

Wildlife Forever  

BoatUS  

Bonefish and Tarpon Trust  

Boone and Crockett Club  

Camp Fire Club of America  

Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation  

Conservation Force  

Dallas Safari Club  

Delta Waterfowl  

Ducks Unlimited  

Forest Landowners Association  

International Game Fish Association  

Major League Fishing  

Masters of Foxhounds Association  

Mule Deer Foundation  

National Alliance of Forest Owners  

National Association of Forest Service Retirees  

National Association of State Foresters  

National Deer Association  

National Professional Anglers Association  

National Wild Turkey Federation  

North American Grouse Partnership  

Pheasants Forever  

Property and Environment Research Center  

Public Lands Foundation  

Quail Forever  

Resource Management Service, LLC  

Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation  

Ruffed Grouse Society  

Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition  

Safari Club International  

Sportsmen’s Alliance  

Tall Timbers  

The Bass Federation  

The Walleye Federation  

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership 

White Oak Initiative 

Whitetails Unlimited 

Wild Sheep Foundation 

Wildlife Forever 

Wildlife Management Institute 

Wildlife Mississippi 

(Photo source: Inciweb)