US Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Sector NAICS 11

Nov 16, 2025 - Fix Our Forests Act

• Bipartisan legislation that aims to reduce the risk of wildfires on US forest lands passed a Senate committee in October, the Washington State Standard reports. The Fix Our Forests Act, introduced in the Senate in April and passed by the House, would promote prescribed burns, expand the state-federal Good Neighbor Authority program, increase collaboration among fire agencies, and improve reforestation efforts after fires. It also makes some rule changes that could impact how areas designated as high fire danger are managed and how projects in those areas proceed. The bill is backed by the timber industry and some environmental organizations, including the Nature Conservancy and National Audubon Society. Forest Service data shows that hazardous fuels reduction work across its lands was down 38% this year compared with the same period during the previous four calendar years. Federal cuts and a firefighter shortage are delaying mitigation efforts.
• President Trump’s signing of the spending bill ending a historic 43-day government shutdown, not only reopened the government but extended the 2018 Farm Bill for another year and allowed the USDA to resume operations, Farm Progress reports. During the shutdown, the USDA missed six weekly crop progress reports, leaving farmers without government data during the crucial harvest and peak trade season. Still, with the harvest season drawing to a close, a Reuters poll of nine analysts estimated the US soybean harvest was 96% complete and the corn harvest was 92% finished as of November 9. Indeed, farmers are harvesting what’s been projected as the biggest US corn crop in history along with a bumper soybean crop. Meanwhile, farmers are nearly finished planting winter wheat for harvest in 2026. Analysts on average estimated winter wheat planting as 95% complete as of Nov. 9, according to the Reuters poll.

• According to a new report from NOAA Fisheries, there were 95 large whale entanglement cases documented in 2024, an increase from 2023 and higher than the historical average. 2024’s entanglement count is above the average annual number of confirmed entanglements over the previous 17 years, which was 71.4. The National Report on Large Whale Entanglements Confirmed in the United States in 2024, released in September, finds that entanglements in fishing gear or marine debris represent an ongoing threat to the welfare and recovery of many whale species, including species that are endangered and approaching extinction (e.g., North Atlantic right whales). Entanglements involving threatened or endangered species can have significant negative impacts on the population as a whole. NOAA's Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan has required some fishermen to use gear, like weaker ropes, that lower the risk of entanglement.
• USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins in August announced a staffing and reorganization plan for the agency that includes plans to close all nine of the US Forest Service’s regional offices. The affected offices are in Missoula, MT; Lakewood, CO; Albuquerque, NM; Ogden, UT; Vallejo, CA; Portland, OR; Atlanta, GA; Milwaukee, WI; and Juneau, AK. The reorganization plan follows mass terminations of at least 3,400 Forest Service employees in the first quarter of this year, along with 15,364 Forest Service employees taking early retirement at the encouragement of the administration, which it total represents a 50% reduction in the number of employees at the US Forest Service since 2024. Commenting on the reorg plan the Society of American Foresters emphasized that the regional offices are essential to effective forest management and raised concerns that their elimination could have significant negative impacts to the agency’s effectiveness.