Wildfire Response and Drought Resiliency Act

Wildfire Response and Drought Resiliency Act

This bill provides for measures to mitigate wildfires, drought, and other natural and human disasters.

Among the bill's other provisions, it

• sets a minimum rate of pay for federal wildland firefighters and provides parity in pay, benefits, and bonuses for federal structural firefighters;
• requires implementation of a 10-year National Wildfire Plan;
• establishes the Saline Lake Ecosystems in the Great Basin States Assessment and Monitoring Program;
• requires a plan to sustain the survival of critically important fisheries within certain states during periods of extended drought;
• establishes the Open Access Evapotranspiration (OpenET) Data Program for the delivery of satellite-based evapotranspiration data to certain data users;
• authorizes the Colorado River Indian Tribes to enter into agreements for conserved water under specified conditions;
• authorizes, ratifies, and confirms, the Hualapai Tribe water rights settlement agreement;
• adds specified land to the Hualapai Reservation;
• establishes a Natural Disaster Grid Mitigation Map that identifies critical electric grid infrastructure in each state that is vulnerable to natural disasters;
• establishes a grant program to award grants to remove nonnative plant species in riparian areas that contribute to drought conditions;
• establishes four Centers of Excellence for Wildfire Smoke to carry out research on the effects on public health of smoke emissions from wildland fires;
• establishes a National Disaster Safety Board;
• establishes a National Wildland Fire Risk Reduction Program;
• establishes a basic training program to increase the capacity of environmental justice communities to address disproportionately adverse human health or environmental effects in their communities.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov