H.R. 204
ACRES Act
In Plain Language
This bill requires the Agriculture and Interior departments to report yearly on how many acres of federal land they treat to reduce wildfire danger. It also requires both departments to set up standardized ways to track and measure these activities, including checking that their data is accurate and analyzing whether the treatments actually reduce wildfire risk. For areas where forests meet neighborhoods, they must also track which treated acres are in those border zones.
Official Congressional Research Service summary
Accurately Counting Risk Elimination Solutions Act or the ACRES ActThis bill establishes requirements regarding reports about hazardous fuels reduction activities and standardized procedures for tracking data for hazardous fuels reduction. Hazardous fuels reduction activities means any vegetation management activities that reduce the risk of wildfire but excludes the award of contracts to conduct hazardous fuels reduction activities.First, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of the Interior must include in the materials submitted in support of the President's budget each fiscal year a report on the number of acres of federal land on which such activities were carried out during the preceding year.Next, USDA and Interior must implement standardized procedures for tracking data related to such activities. The standardized procedures must includeregular, standardized data reviews of the accuracy and timely input of data used to track hazardous fuels reduction activities;verification methods that validate whether such data accurately correlates to such activities;an analysis of the short- and long-term effectiveness of such activities on reducing the risk of wildfire; andfor hazardous fuels reduction activities that occur partially within the wildland-urban interface, methods to distinguish which acres are located within and which located outside the wildland-urban interface.Finally, the Government Accountability Office must (1) conduct a study on this bill's implementation, and (2) submit a report to Congress with the results of the study.
Sponsor
Cosponsors
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Latest action
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 490.
Jul 23, 2026
Official source
Action history
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