If you were to make a list of proven and effective ways to reduce the number and intensity of wildfires in the West, most of them would be included in a Senate bill introduced last August.

The bill, called the Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act, S. 4431, was introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., whose home state has been decimated by wildfires. To date this year, more than 3.6 million acres have been blackened and at least 26 people have died. That’s on top of the nearly 2 million acres that were burned two years ago, when 86 people were killed and 15,000 homes were leveled in the Camp Fire.

California is not alone in its wildfire problems. More than 7 million acres have burned this year across the West, leveling whole towns and destroying businesses and livelihoods. Oregonians know the pain caused by the wildfires that have scorched more than 2 million acres, leaving 33 people dead or missing.

S. 4431 aims to improve the management of federal forests and reduce the risk of wildfire.

Finally.

Feinstein attributes the massive wildfires to climate change, but “we can’t simply wait for the world to roll back emissions to address our wildfire problem,” she told the Senate. “Preparing for these challenges will require an all-of-the-above approach utilizing the latest science, even if some solutions aren’t politically popular.”

California has 150 million dead trees, the victims of drought and bark beetle infestations. “A single spark in the middle of those dead trees can lead to an inferno,” Feinstein said. Similar scenarios exist across the West.

According to Feinstein, the bill would:

• Allow for expedited environmental reviews regarding the installation of fuel breaks near roads, trails, transmission lines and pipelines.

• Establish $100 million in grants to build biomass facilities near forests that are at risk of wildfire and to offset the cost of transporting dead and dying trees out of high-hazard fire zones.

• Lift the export ban on unprocessed timber from federal lands in the West for trees that are dead, dying or if there is no demand in the U.S.

• Establish a prescribed fire center to coordinate research and training of foresters and forest managers in the latest methods and innovations in prescribed fire practices to reduce the likelihood of catastrophic fires and improve the health of forests.

• Authorize a workforce development program to assist in developing a career training pipeline for forestry workers.

• Allow Federal Emergency Management Agency hazard mitigation money to be used for the installation of fire-resistant wires and infrastructure as well as for putting electrical transmission wires underground.

In Oregon, 60% of all forestland is owned by the federal government. In Washington, 44% is federally owned. In California, it’s 57%. And in Idaho, 80% of forestland is federally owned.

When the federal government owns most of the forests, it is obligated to manage them well. That means making sure they aren’t allowed to become a tinderbox.

Yet it can be demonstrated that Uncle Sam has been hamstrung by environmentalists’ lawsuits in managing the forests. Exhibit A is the wildfires ravaging western states year after year.

Worse yet, the wildfires don’t stop in federally owned forests. Private and state-owned forests are burned, too.

So are homes, ranches, farms and whole towns.

That makes Feinstein’s bill even more important.

The co-sponsors of Feinstein’s bills are Republican Sens. Steve Daines of Montana and James Risch and Mike Crapo of Idaho.

Missing are Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell of Washington state.

We urge those senators to get on board and back S. 4431. Their states are burning, and they need to act now.