Emergency Pine Beetle Response Act of 2025

This bill would require the U.S. Department of Agriculture to pay owners of private, nonindustrial forest land up to 85 percent of the cost of responding to pine beetle outbreaks, such as thinning, prescribed burning, debris removal, and insecticide treatment. It would also pay timber service businesses up to 50 percent of their itemized costs for this work. To qualify, the land must have had tree cover before the outbreak, be in a county designated as a natural disaster area in the past 12 months, and have a confirmed pine beetle infestation; local Farm Service Agency offices would decide eligibility and make payments. The bill would allow emergency loans to forest landowners of at least 75 percent of estimated response costs, with the option to apply later cost-share payments to the loan, and would allow grants to state, tribal, and local governments for outbreak response.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Cindy Hyde-Smith Republican sponsor
• 5 cosponsors