California Sierra National Forest Garnet Fire is at 18,748 Acres with 8% Containment as of Sunday evening, August 31, 2025 according to InciWeb
September 1, 2025 - The Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) strongly supports the Fix Our Forests Act (H.R. 471/S. 1462), which is co-sponsored by 21 members of California’s Congressional delegation, including U.S. Senator Alex Padilla. This measure would provide pathways to improve and expedite forest management and wildfire prevention measures on USDA Forest Service (USFS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands, as well as on tribal lands; and to improve forest resilience, watershed health, and resistance to wildfire.
Related: California U.S. Senator Alex Padilla Says Senate Fix Our Forests Act Gets Committee Hearing
Specifically, the Fix our Forests Act would significantly improve the health of federal forest lands by prioritizing fire risk for federal lands nationwide; expanding collaborative tools to improve forest health such as allowing intra-agency strike teams; expanding the revenue provisions under Good Neighbor Authority; and addressing frivolous litigation under NEPA that can keep projects tied up in court for months or even years. The Fix Our Forests Act would create a number of categorical exclusions to expedite fuels treatment projects and would create programs designed to enhance and sustain interagency coordination and transparency.
RCRC member counties are home to more than 80 percent of USDA Forest Service (USFS) land across California, and the vast majority of the state’s BLM lands can be found in our rural counties. California’s catastrophic wildfires have profoundly impacted our rural communities over the past fifteen years, many of which originated on federally managed lands, such as the Caldor Fire, the August Complex Fire and the North Complex Fire. Wildfires on federal lands have cost the federal government billions of dollars in suppression, clean-up and disaster relief costs and have required unprecedented investments by state and local governments to provide firefighting, recovery and rebuilding resources to communities impacted by these fires. Reputable forest science has shown that our national forest lands are overstocked due to decades of overconservative timber harvest policies and overzealous fire suppression practices.
H.R. 471 passed the U.S. House in January and awaits action in the U.S. Senate. S. 1462 was introduced in April and awaits action in committee. RCRC’s most recent letter of support can be found here. 
Garnet Fire smoke plume on August 27
ABOUT RURAL COUNTY REPRESENTATIVES OF CALIFORNIA (RCRC)
The Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) is a thirty-seven member county strong service organization that champions policies on behalf of California’s rural counties. RCRC is dedicated to representing the collective unique interests of its membership, providing legislative and regulatory representation at the State and Federal levels, and providing responsible services for its members to enhance and protect the quality of life in rural California counties. To learn more about RCRC, visit rcrcnet.org and follow @RuralCounties on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Source: RCRC
