Environment and Public Lands

Wildfire prevention and forest management

37 public statements from 2026 candidates

§1The range of views

Why this matters: Wildfires destroy homes and fill the air with unhealthy smoke, and forest projects affect wildlife, timber jobs and how quickly work can begin.

Drafted by AI, then checked for neutral wording in a separate AI review. It describes the question and the main positions, not any candidate's view. Facts link to their sources.

How federal agencies reduce wildfire risk on public land through tree thinning, logging and controlled burns, and how much environmental review those projects get.

Focus mainly on making homes and towns near forests harder to burn
Fund more thinning and controlled burns under current review rules
Speed up thinning and logging by shortening reviews and limiting lawsuits

These options describe policies, not people. The order is not a ranking.

§2What candidates have said

Why this matters: Statements candidates made publicly, summarized in plain words with a link to where they said it. Candidates who haven't spoken publicly on this issue aren't listed.

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

Fund more thinning and controlled burns under current review rules (1)

Bob Smith CA-24
His campaign website says he backs a proposed Los Padres National Forest project to reduce wildfire risk through mechanical thinning and prescribed fire, with environmental review left in place.¹

Speed up thinning and logging by shortening reviews and limiting lawsuits (3)

Robb Tucker CA-3
His campaign website says he strongly supports the Fix Our Forests Act, which it says speeds up permitting for forest work near communities, roads and power lines, and that he would work to expand agreements letting counties and local agencies clear overgrown federal land.²
Tom McClintock CA-5
His campaign website says environmental reviews and lawsuits under laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act have made forest management and timber sales too costly and slow, and that he has introduced legislation to speed the removal of dead timber, replanting and the care of surviving forests.³
Aaron Flint MT-1
His campaign website lists maintaining healthy forests to prevent catastrophic wildfires among the steps in its public lands plan. Its forest plan lists overturning the Cottonwood legal decision and ending what it calls analysis paralysis on forest management projects, expanding the Good Neighbor Authority to let Montana help manage federal forests, and ending the Roadless Rule.⁴

Statements that don't match one option (33)

Bruce Westerman AR-4
His campaign website says he introduced the Resilient Federal Forests Act to address forest management problems, that parts of it have become law, and that federal land managers need more freedom to use science-based management.⁵
Mike McGuire CA-1
His campaign website says he would double the U.S. Forest Service budget for firefighting and forest management, restore Forest Service cuts, and increase prescribed burns and home hardening, and his rural plan calls for expanding and speeding up fuel reduction, prescribed fire and thinning near at-risk communities and for modernizing federal reviews with clear timelines while keeping public input.^6,7
Ami Bera CA-3
His campaign website supports expanding thinning, prescribed burns and vegetation management, opposes Trump administration cuts to the U.S. Forest Service, and supports more federal money for defensible space and home hardening.⁸
Michael Masuda CA-5
His campaign website says he would expand science-based thinning and prescribed fire, fully fund Forest Service fuel reduction on federal land in the district, add staff and funding for federal land agencies to address wildfire threats, and streamline delayed projects.^9,10
Kevin Kiley CA-6
His campaign website features his SAFE HOME Act, which it says would give a refundable tax credit for 25% of wildfire-mitigation costs, up to $25,000 a year, and credits him with getting the Lake Tahoe Restoration Reauthorization Act through the House and signed into law, which it says provides $410 million to protect Lake Tahoe and reduce wildfire risk.^11,12,13
Mai Vang CA-7
Her campaign website says she would restore funding for fuel mitigation, rebuild the Forest Service and make wildfire prevention a national priority.¹⁴
Shane Lewis CA-18
His campaign website says vegetation around critical water sources such as the Sacramento River should be cleared and thinned regularly to prevent wildfires that damage watersheds.¹⁵
Jimmy Panetta CA-19
His campaign website says he has written and passed bills to invest in wildfire prevention, reforestation and more Forest Service personnel.¹⁶
Peter Coe Verbica CA-19
His 25-point federal plan proposes funding fuel reduction on federal forest land.¹⁷
Jim Costa CA-21
His campaign website says he helped win $3.3 billion to reduce the risk of wildfires.¹⁸
Sam Gallucci CA-26
His campaign website calls for investing in wildfire fuel reduction, forest management and resilient power infrastructure.¹⁹
George Whitesides CA-27
His campaign website says he has worked to reduce fuels in wildland areas, increase resources for firefighters, use new technology to detect fires faster, and make fire-resistant home improvements easier.²⁰
Stephanie M. Vargas CA-33
Her campaign website calls for a common-sense approach to forest management and for giving fire officials the authority to use every available prevention strategy.²¹
Ken Calvert CA-40
His campaign website says that as Interior Appropriations chairman he negotiated a 2018 fix that set aside funding for wildfire response so the Forest Service would stop taking money from programs such as fuels reduction.²²
Scott Peters CA-50
His campaign website says he wants to prevent the next big wildfire, and that he co-led the Fix Our Forests Act, which it says speeds up forest work that cuts wildfire risk and which passed the House.²³
Joe Neguse CO-2
His campaign website says he founded and co-chairs the Bipartisan Wildfire Caucus and has secured tens of millions of dollars for wildfire resiliency and mitigation.²⁴
Kelley Anne Dennison CO-2
Her campaign website calls for proactive forest management, controlled burns, beetle mitigation and responsible land management to reduce wildfire risk.²⁵
Eileen Laubacher CO-4
Her campaign website says she would invest in disaster preparedness and wildfire prevention.²⁶
Jeff Crank CO-5
His campaign website says he is working to make the community more resilient to wildfires.²⁷
Jessica Killin CO-5
Her campaign website says she would boost resources for wildland firefighters and modernize the response to wildfires.^28,29
Tim Bennett CO-7
His campaign website says he would support active forest management, wildfire mitigation and watershed protection, in close cooperation with local communities and first responders.³⁰
Kaylee Peterson ID-1
Her campaign website says the Forest Service and federal agencies should be fully staffed and funded to clear maintenance backlogs, and that Congress should support legislation that protects watersheds and prevents wildfires.^31,32
Russ Fulcher ID-1
His campaign website says he has supported legislation to improve forest management and reduce the risk of destructive wildfire.³³
Ellie Gilbreath ID-2
Her campaign website lists improving forest management and wildfire prevention among her priorities.³⁴
Seth Bodnar MT Senate
His campaign website says he supports active forest management near communities, predictable multi-year funding for wildfire fuels work, grazing as a wildfire tool on federal land and reversing cuts to the agencies that manage forests.³⁵
Sam Forstag MT-1
His campaign website says he would fully staff public lands agencies and put substantially more money into forest management and fuels mitigation, which it says would create jobs working proactively on wildfire risk. It also says he would set clear timelines for handling appeals, litigation and enforcement of environmental rules such as NEPA, while keeping the public able to comment and object.³⁶
Paul Barringer NC-13
His priorities page says he supports managing forests actively to help prevent wildfires.³⁷
Gregory G Cunningham NM-2
His New Mexico Farmers First plan says he wants the Forest Service to give out grazing allotments that are now vacant, which it says would reduce wildfire fuel and keep ranching families on the land.³⁸
Gabriel Vasquez NM-2
His campaign website lists among his accomplishments a bipartisan bill to reduce wildfire risk and increase resources to fight wildfires in New Mexico that was signed into law.^39,40,41
Teresa Leger Fernandez NM-3
Her campaign website lists among her accomplishments securing $3.95 billion to compensate victims of the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon fire through the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire Assistance Act, and obtaining investigations into U.S. Forest Service policies on controlled burns. It says she is working with the Forest Service to update those policies.⁴²
Greggory D Hull NM Governor
His campaign website supports more mechanical thinning, targeted tree removal and planned prescribed burns, and closer work with federal agencies, tribes and local governments to move fuel-reduction projects forward faster.⁴³
Teresa F. Benitez-Thompson NV-2
Her campaign website says federal dollars and grants that were cut or eliminated for wildfire response capacity and for flood risk reduction should be restored, and says a planned consolidation of federal firefighting could reduce prescribed burns and fuels reduction.⁴⁴
David Brock Smith OR Senate
His campaign website calls for active forest management, fuel reduction and work with landowners to protect homes, and says federal regulations should put the needs and safety of local residents first.⁴⁵