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Wildfire activity has surged across the United States in 2026. As of late August, more than 51,000 wildfires had burned nearly 8 million acres nationwide – roughly 65% more acreage than the 10-year average for this point in the year, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Against that backdrop, wildfire prevention has become an increasingly prominent policy issue in Washington. Congress and the Trump administration are pursuing a range of proposals addressing forest management, vegetation management and wildfire risks associated with electric infrastructure. For the tree care industry, particularly companies engaged in utility vegetation management (UVM), these issues are closely connected: vegetation that threatens a power line can disrupt electric service, while contact between trees or limbs and energized infrastructure can also create an ignition risk.

On federal lands, vegetation management along power-line rights-of-way sits at the intersection of wildfire prevention, grid reliability and federal land management. TCIA has been engaged on several fronts to ensure that these policies support effective wildfire mitigation while establishing clear responsibilities and workable standards for the contractors performing much of this work.

The Fix Our Forests Act

A major focus in Congress is the Fix Our Forests Act (FOFA; S. 1462/H.R. 471), broad bipartisan legislation intended to reduce catastrophic wildfire risk and improve forest resilience. The House passed its version by a 279–141 vote in January 2025, as devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area brought renewed attention to wildfire prevention and forest-management policy.

Among its many provisions, FOFA would:

• Accelerate forest-restoration and wildfire-mitigation projects on federal lands.
• Prioritize work in areas facing significant wildfire risk through designated “fireshed management areas”.
• Streamline certain federal reviews and project approvals to facilitate forest and wildfire-management work.
• Expand and facilitate vegetation management along power-line rights-of-way on federal lands to reduce wildfire risk.

The utility provisions build on Section 512 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), which governs vegetation management along electric transmission and distribution rights-of-way crossing U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands. Among other changes, FOFA would expand the hazard-tree threshold from 10 feet to 150 feet if the tree or part of the tree failed and revise the process and timelines for utility vegetation-management plans.

TCIA supports the goal of allowing utilities to address hazardous vegetation beyond the immediate right-of-way, while seeking greater clarity about the respective responsibilities of utilities and the contractors they hire. Existing Section 512 language includes contractors within the definition of an electric facility’s “owner or operator,” even though contractors generally do not hold the underlying federal authorization or make decisions such as developing and submitting vegetation-management plans. As the potential area of hazard-tree management expands, that ambiguity could create additional legal and insurance risk for contractors.

TCIA made progress on this issue earlier this year through a separate Senate wildfire bill, S. 140, the Wildfire Prevention Act. Like FOFA, S. 140 seeks to expand and accelerate wildfire-mitigation activities on federal lands and includes changes to Section 512 affecting hazard-tree removal around power lines. During Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee consideration of the bill, the committee included TCIA-supported language clarifying that vegetation-management contractors are not treated as owners or operators for purposes of Section 512’s legal responsibilities. TCIA has advocated for similar clarity as Congress considers changes to Section 512 through FOFA.

Administration Focuses on Wildfire Risks to the Electric Grid

Congressional activity is occurring alongside a broader Administration effort focused on wildfire ignition from electric infrastructure. President Trump’s Executive Order 14308, “Empowering Commonsense Wildfire Prevention and Response,” directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and other federal agencies to consider action establishing best practices to reduce wildfire ignition from the bulk-power system, specifically including vegetation management and removal of hazardous fuels along transmission lines.

FERC subsequently directed the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to assess wildfire-mitigation practices and potential changes to reliability standards. NERC issued its report in May and followed in July with a Wildfire Action Plan.

NERC’s Wildfire Action Plan aims to:

• Develop voluntary guidance for wildfire reliability.
• Expand stakeholder and governmental outreach.
• Consider potential modifications to NERC Reliability Standards, including standards affecting transmission vegetation management.

TCIA has participated in the FERC proceeding, urging policymakers to incorporate UVM expertise and establish a clearer, nationally recognized minimum standard of care for hazard-tree inspections as this work moves forward.

What Comes Next

As of this writing, FOFA continues to gain momentum in Congress. On June 22, a bipartisan group of senators filed the legislation as an amendment to the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, providing a potential path through a must-pass legislative vehicle. On August 10, the White House Office of Management and Budget also issued a Statement of Administration Policy supporting S. 1462. While recommending several changes to the legislation, the administration indicated that if an amended bill reaches the president, his advisers would recommend that he sign it.

Whether FOFA advances on its own or as part of another legislative vehicle, the attention surrounding the bill reflects a broader federal focus on reducing wildfire risk through more active forest and vegetation management. At the same time, implementation of the administration’s wildfire executive order and NERC’s Wildfire Action Plan will continue to move forward.

TCIA will remain engaged in these efforts to ensure that federal wildfire policies recognize the expertise of qualified tree care and UVM professionals, clearly allocate responsibilities between utilities and contractors and establish workable standards for the vegetation-management work necessary to protect electric infrastructure and reduce wildfire risk.

Basil Thomson is a partner at Ulman Public Policy, TCIA’s Washington, D.C.-based advocacy and lobbying partner.