Emergency Pine Beetle Response Act of 2025

Financial aid for landowners: Owners of nonindustrial private forest land can receive payments of up to 85 percent of the cost for measures to restore forest health after a pine beetle outbreak (Section 2, subsection (e)(2)).

Support for timber businesses: Timber service businesses can receive payments covering up to 50 percent of eligible itemized costs, such as labor, equipment use, and materials, when restoring forest health (Section 2, subsection (e)(3)).

Government grants: State, Tribal, and local governments may receive supplemental grants to help respond to and repair damage from pine beetle outbreaks (Section 2, subsection (e)(5)).

Emergency funding: Landowners have access to emergency loans for at least 75 percent of the estimated cost of outbreak response measures (Section 3, subsection (e)(2)-(3)).

Flexible loan repayment: Landowners who get an emergency loan can choose to use their cost-share payments to pay down the loan's remaining principal (Section 3, subsection (e)(4)).

Strict eligibility requirements: To get payments, landowners must prove the land had tree cover before the outbreak, be in a county designated as a primary natural disaster area due to specific events like drought or wildfire within the last 12 months, and have forest pest surveys confirm the infestation (Section 2, subsection (e)(4)(A)).

Partial cost coverage: Neither landowners nor timber service businesses are fully reimbursed, as payments are capped at 85 percent and 50 percent of costs, respectively (Section 2, subsection (e)(2)(B) and (e)(3)(B)).