Disaster Reforestation Act

The Disaster Reforestation Act would amend the tax code to allow forest landowners to deduct the value of timber destroyed by natural disasters such as fires, storms, or theft. Currently, the tax code does not provide this relief to timber growers, even though it does for other agricultural crops. Under this bill, landowners would be able to claim casualty loss deductions based on the appraised value of their timber before the disaster occurred. However, the bill includes an important requirement: landowners must replant or reseed their forests within five years of the loss to qualify for the deduction. If they fail to reforest within this timeframe, the tax benefit would be recaptured. The bill applies to both softwood and hardwood timber held for commercial purposes. This would provide financial relief to forest owners who face significant recovery costs after disasters, particularly family and small landowners who often lack insurance coverage for timber losses and must wait decades for their crops to mature for sale.