1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Protecting American Communities from Wildfire Act . 2. Findings and purpose (a) Findings Congress finds that— (1) catastrophic wildfire represents a major threat to American lives, properties, and livelihoods; (2) more and more Americans are living within the wildland-urban interface, and thus living closer to unmanaged, overgrown Federal forests; and (3) a lack of large-scale forest management practices has increased the risk of catastrophic wildfire within the wildland-urban interface. (b) Purpose The purposes of this Act are as follows: (1) To provide the Forest Service with the clear authority to protect lives, homes, and businesses within the wildland-urban interface by authorizing forest management projects in the wildland-urban interface. (2) To provide State, local, and Tribal entities the authority to collaboratively manage the forests within the wildland-urban interface. (3) To provide additional resources for existing disaster mitigation and educational programs for communities located in the wildland-urban interface. 3. Definitions In this Act: (1) At-risk community The term at-risk community has the meaning given the term in section 101 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 ( 16 U.S.C. 6511 ). (2) At-risk watershed The term at-risk watershed means any watershed supplying an at-risk community. (3) Federal land (A) In general The term Federal land means— (i) public lands (as defined in section 103 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 ( 43 U.S.C. 1702 )); (ii) land held in trust for Indian Tribes; or (iii) National Forest System land. (B) Exclusions The term Federal land does not include— (i) a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System; (ii) Federal land on which the removal of vegetation is prohibited or restricted by Act of Congress or Presidential proclamation (including the applicable implementation plan)