The Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act of 2025 aims to enhance compensation and support for federal wildland firefighters by establishing permanent special base rates of pay. This legislation amends Title 5 of the U.S. Code to create a new pay structure for wildland firefighters employed by the Forest Service or Department of the Interior, whose duties primarily involve wildland fires. The special base rates replace the standard General Schedule base rates, increasing them by percentages ranging from 42% for GS-1 to 1.5% for GS-15, and are considered basic pay for all purposes, including locality adjustments. In addition to base pay increases, the bill introduces a new incident response premium pay for covered employees deployed to qualifying wildland fire incidents. This premium pay is set at a daily rate of 450% of the employee's hourly basic pay, with an annual cap of $9,000 and a limitation based on the GS-10, step 10 rate. The Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior are mandated to assess compensation levels and may administratively adjust this premium pay to align with fiscal year 2023 compensation, ensuring continuity from previous temporary increases. Furthermore, the Act provides for paid rest and recuperation leave for wildland firefighters following their deployment to qualifying incidents. The Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior will jointly establish policies for this leave, which may include maximum deployment periods followed by mandatory rest days, or limits on daily work hours during deployments. This leave must be used immediately after an incident and cannot be accumulated or paid out. The legislation also includes provisions to ensure the uninterrupted continuation of existing temporary federal wildland firefighter base salary increases. It authorizes the transfer of up to $5,000,000 in unobligated funds from the Forest Service to the Department of the Interior for this purpose. The effective date for the new pay rates and premium pay is set to coincide with the expiration of current temporary salary increases, ensuring a seamless transition for these critical personnel.