ASSEMBLY ENVIRONMENT, NATURAL RESOURCES, AND SOLID WASTE COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 5782

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  DECEMBER 4, 2025

      The Assembly Environment, Natural Resources, and Solid Waste Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 5782.

      This bill would amend and supplement the State’s “Prescribed Burn Act,” P.L.2018, c.107 (C.13:9-44.11 et seq.) (Prescribed Burn Act), in order to clarify the goals, requirements, and timeframes that are applicable to prescribed burn planning and the undertaking of prescribed burns across the State.

      Under existing law, a prescribed burn may be conducted by the State, the federal government, or a landowner or lessee, in accordance with a prescribed burn plan adopted thereby and approved by the Department of Environmental Protection (department) pursuant to the Prescribed Burn Act.  Although the Prescribed Burn Act, when enacted in 2018, provided for the department to establish and administer a prescribed burn program to facilitate the safe and proper undertaking of prescribed burns in the State, that law did not specify the timeframe within which the program should be commenced.  Accordingly, this bill would amend the Prescribed Burn Act to require the department to develop and adopt rules and regulations relevant to prescribed burns, and to establish and commence the administration of its prescribed burn program, within 18 months after the date of this bill’s enactment. 

      The bill would further clarify that the prescribed burn program is to provide for authorized persons to utilize fire, as a tool, for the management of the State's forests, based upon sound science, and is to incorporate, at a minimum:

      (1)  best practices to ensure the safe and effective use of prescribed burning, as a tool, for such purposes;

      (2)  requirements providing for the development and implementation of a prescribed burn plan for each appropriate parcel of forested land owned by the State, with priority being given to State-owned lands that are located in areas of the State which are determined, by the Forest Fire Service, to be most in danger of wildfire due to the accumulation of wildland fire fuels; and

      (3)  a process to identify, and to periodically report to the Governor and the Legislature on, any legal barriers that may serve to hinder the prompt or effective development of prescribed burn plans.

      This bill would require all prescribed burns to be undertaken between the months of November and March, prior to the start of prime wildfire season in New Jersey.  The department would be required to annually establish a Statewide goal of conducting prescribed burns on a minimum of 50,000 acres in the pinelands area and on an additional 10,000 acres elsewhere in the State. The bill would additionally require relevant State agencies to incorporate these annual Statewide prescribed burn goals into all relevant environmental plans, programs, and surveys.

      The bill would further require the department, acting through its Forest Fire Service, to:

      (1)  establish and annually operate a prescribed burn training program for private landowners, local fire officials, other appropriate government officials, relevant non-profit operators, employees, and volunteers;

      (2)  establish Mobile Prescribed Burn Units in the Forest Fire Service in order to facilitate the development of prescribed burn plans and the undertaking of prescribed burn operations by private landowners, local fire officials, other appropriate government officials, non-profit operators, employees, and volunteers throughout the State;

      (3)  annually deploy, between the months of November and March, the Mobile Prescribed Burn Units to those areas of the State which are determined by the Forest Fire Service to be most in danger of wildfire due to the accumulation of wildland fire fuels; and

      (4)  annually deploy, during each year’s peak fire season, the Mobile Prescribed Burn Units to those areas of the State which are determined by the Forest Fire Service to be most in danger of wildfire due to the accumulation of wildland fire fuels.

      The bill would additionally require the department to create and to publish, on its Internet website, a prescribed burn schedule and calendar, identifying the dates and locations of all prescribed burns that are planned in the State for the upcoming year.

      The department would similarly be authorized, under the bill, to approve, for implementation, any prescribed burn plan that is submitted thereto, provided that the person submitting such plan also submits a certification verifying the person’s successful completion of prescribed burn training, either under the training program established and operated by the Forest Fire Service, pursuant to the bill, or under a similar educational or training program approved by the department.  However, the submission of such training certification would not be required for plan approval in any case where a person is seeking approval only to conduct a prescribed burn on land for which the person is the landowner or lessee.