Senate Committee Vote on “FIX OUR FORESTS” rewrite – oppose S.1462

Prairie Hills Audubon Society Objects to the  House “Fix Our Forests Act” (H.R. 8446). CHAT GTP prepared the below report for us:

None of our Senators are on Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, but Thune is head of the Senate. https://www.energy.senate.gov/

The “Fix Our Forests Act” (H.R. 8446) passed the U.S. House of Representatives in late September 2025. A Senate companion or compromise vehicle has emerged under the bill number S.1462 (the number may refer to a previously introduced forest management bill that is now being used as a shell for the House-passed text or a negotiated version).

Reports in congressional tracking indicate that a bipartisan group of Senators—primarily Western state Republicans and a handful of Democrats from forested states—have agreed to hold a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee session the week of October 20–24, 2025. Based on typical committee schedule patterns and statements from staff (as reported by outlets like E&E News and Politico Pro), the likely markup date is Wednesday, October 22, 2025, though this could still shift depending on negotiations.

The House version is heavily criticized by conservation groups because it promotes large-scale logging under the banner of wildfire prevention, weakens NEPA review, expands categorical exclusions, limits judicial review, and pushes acreage targets for “mechanical thinning.” The Senate compromise reportedly includes attempts to soften the bill by adding modest requirements for reforestation and post-logging monitoring, but the NEPA rollbacks and judicial review restrictions remain largely intact, which is why environmental groups consider it still very harmful.

Environmental NGO alert activity:

WildEarth Guardians sent out an email alert urging opposition to S.1462, calling it a logging bill disguised as a wildfire safety measure, and provided a pre-written letter urging Senators to vote “No” in committee. They stress that real wildfire solutions involve home hardening and defensible space, not landscape-level logging.  WildEarth Guardians has a pre-fab on line letter.
The Center for Biological Diversity has a “Stop the Fix Our Forests Act” action page condemning the Senate version as a threat to old-growth forests and biodiversity.
Western Environmental Law Center (WELC) has circulated a legal analysis framing it as a major rollback of environmental safeguards and is reportedly preparing a coalition sign-on letter for NGOs (this one is meant more for organizations than the general public).
Earthjustice has not yet released a public action alert with a prefab letter but has published a news brief warning that S.1462 will fast-track commercial logging on federal lands.
Defenders of Wildlife and Sierra Club are monitoring the markup and may release alerts closer to the committee date—Sierra Club staff have signaled on social media that an action tool is being prepared.

Key themes across these alerts include:

1. the bill greenlights industrial logging under the justification of wildfire risk;
2. it undermines NEPA by expanding categorical exclusions;
3. it restricts judicial oversight;
4. it relies on acreage quotas rather than ecological science;
5.  and it does not prioritize community-based fire resilience.

WildEarth Guardians direct alert: https://wildearthguardians.org/press-releases/wildearthguardians-statement-on-senate-version-of-the-forest-destroying-fix-our-forests-act/ — WildEarth Guardians homepage: https://wildearthguardians.org ;;