A new analysis released by the Center for Western Priorities shows that the U.S. Forest Service treated about 35 percent fewer acres for hazardous fuels in 2025 than the previous year, leaving forests and surrounding communities more vulnerable to intense wildfires.
The report, which examined the entire calendar year of 2025, found the agency completed hazardous fuels reduction work on about 2.6 million acres. That’s a steep decline from the roughly 4.1 million acres treated in 2024. Hazardous fuels treatments include mechanical thinning, prescribed burns and brush clearing that aim to reduce wildfire intensity and protect watersheds.
That decline comes as many Western states continue to grapple with high fire risk from drought and development that pushes into forested areas. The Center for Western Priorities highlighted the largest year-over-year drops in states with some of the highest wildfire threats.
In Montana, treatments fell 63 percent, from 239,112 acres in 2024 to just 87,845 acres in 2025. Oregon saw a 47 percent reduction, dropping from 430,586 acres to 228,411 acres, despite leading the nation the prior year. Idaho recorded a 45 percent decline to 230,788 acres, while California treated 205,358 acres, down 40 percent from 341,970 acres.
The trend extended beyond the West. In the Southeast, where prescribed fire plays a key role in managing longleaf pine ecosystems, several states posted even steeper drops. Florida, long a leader in prescribed burns, treated only 124,372 acres in 2025, a 68 percent decrease from 385,017 acres the year before. Georgia and South Carolina each saw similar 68 percent declines.
Center for Western Priorities Executive Director Aaron Weiss criticized the reductions, noting that Agriculture Secretary Booke Rollins and Undersecretary Michael Boren oversee forest management responsibilities. He argued that cutting treatment acres by more than a third in one year adds risk during a drought-fueled fire season.
Weiss also pointed to changes at the Department of the Interior under Secretary Doug Burgum, including workforce adjustments and a shift back toward full fire suppression policies. Fire scientists have long cautioned against returning to the old “10 a.m. policy” of aggressive early containment without sufficient prevention work.
The analysis builds on earlier findings from Grassroots Wildland Firefighters that tracked progress only through September 2025. It relies on publicly available data from the Forest Service’s Forest Activity Tracking System. Officials have cited staffing shortages as one factor contributing to slower progress in recent years.
It’s still early days for 2026 data, but preliminary numbers suggest the current pace continues to fall below historic averages. The Forest Service has struggled to meet aggressive fuels reduction targets mandated by Congress in recent years.
Proponents of the current approach say federal land management needs to be more efficient and have different priorities. But critics say if the prevention work is cut, the cost of fighting fires will be higher and there will be more danger to lives, property and natural resources when fires do start.
Wildfire seasons have grown more destructive in recent decades, with climate patterns, overgrown forests, and human development all playing roles. Hazardous fuels treatments remain one of the few proven tools for reducing severity in areas where full suppression has proven difficult.
The complete analysis, including state-by-state breakdowns and methodology details, is available through the Center for Western Priorities. The underlying Forest Service data can be accessed via the agency’s geodata clearinghouse.
