WASHINGTON — Workers who spend a lot of their summer in the outdoors — including firefighters, guides, outfitters, and forest service workers — could be the biggest beneficiaries of new legislation proposed by U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

Wyden’s proposed bill could provide billions of dollars to support jobs related to tourism and wildfires. He introduced the bill to the U.S. Senate on Monday.

Wyden said his bill has the potential to create rural jobs and generate income for people affected by the COVID-19 closures, while at the same time clearing out overgrowth from forests that create conditions for wildfires.

“We have a historic pandemic landing in the middle of Oregon’s wildfire season and that is a prescription for potentially big problems,” Wyden said by phone.

“What my bill does is build a fresh strategy around ideas and programs that have developed a real track record for employing workers in the woods and doing it in a way that is going to help promote clean water and clean air,” said Wyden.

Wyden crafted the bill largely from his Washington, D.C., office, where he has been hunkered down during the COVID-19 lockdown.

The bill could promote job creation and construction projects in the same way that federal money was used during the Great Depression to fund tourism projects, said Wyden. Federal construction projects at that time include the Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood and Rim Village at Crater Lake.

If passed, the bill sets aside $7 billion for outfitters and guides to help them through what is expected to be a slow summer travel season.

There’s also money for the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to conduct additional forest thinning projects to reduce the threat of wildfires, which have ravaged large portions of the Western U.S. in recent years.

Wyden said he expects bipartisan support for the legislation.

“With unemployment numbers looking like they are going to spike in a number of areas, particularly in rural communities, I think a lot of my colleagues are going to be interested in finding a way to make sure those communities don’t see the federal government as stiff-arming them,” said Wyden. “This is a chance to get on top of hugely important issues.”

Wyden did not give a specific time frame for passing the legislation, but said he hopes it can be done soon to address both COVID-19-related issues and the upcoming fire season.

“I am going to advance this as soon as possible,” said Wyden. “Because the pandemic and the fire season are not going to take the next couple of weeks off.”