Save Our Sequoias Act

The bill would codify the Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition, requiring it to produce a Giant Sequoia Health and Resiliency Assessment and annual updates, and maintain a public website tracking grove conditions and restoration costs. It would declare a seven-year wildfire, insect, and drought emergency on specified national forest and park lands, authorizing agencies to carry out expedited "Protection Projects" — fuels reduction, hazard-tree removal, thinning — under categorical exclusions from standard environmental review for projects under set acreage caps. It would also require Interior to develop a Giant Sequoia Reforestation and Rehabilitation Strategy, create Giant Sequoia Strike Teams, establish a collaborative restoration grant program, require insect-monitoring efforts, expand stewardship contracting to certain national parks, and create a new philanthropic fund administered by park and forest foundations. The bill does not appropriate specific federal dollars for most of these programs; funding for the new emergency protection fund would depend on private gifts and bequests rather than congressional appropriations. The emergency declaration and its streamlined procedures would expire automatically seven years after enactment.

The Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Department of the Interior; the Tule River Indian Tribe; the State of California; nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, and contractors eligible for grants; and communities near Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Yosemite, and adjoining national forests where giant sequoia groves grow.

Faster, categorically-excluded environmental review would let agencies act more quickly to thin vegetation and remove hazard trees before wildfires strike sequoia groves, potentially reducing tree losses. The emergency declaration and reduced review requirements have shorter public input and standard environmental analysis, which affected communities and environmental groups may watch closely.

The Coalition, made up of federal, state, tribal, university, and local partners, would produce assessments and a searchable website within set deadlines. During the seven-year emergency, responsible officials at Interior and Agriculture would carry out Protection Projects under existing emergency-action rules and categorical exclusions from standard NEPA review, subject to acreage caps and extraordinary-circumstances safeguards. Strike teams of up to ten members would implement projects and handle required consultations. The Coalition and Secretary would report annually to Congress, including explanations if hazardous-fuels reduction targets in at least three groves are missed, while a separate philanthropic fund run by park and forest foundations would channel private donations to conservation and reforestation work, with reporting requirements.