AB 697: Forest resources: national forest lands: Good Neighbor Authority Fund: ecological restoration and fire resiliency projects.

Existing law establishes in the State Treasury the Good Neighbor Authority Fund, to be administered by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection under the direction of the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency. Existing law makes the moneys in the fund available for expenditure, upon appropriation by the Legislature, as authorized by specified federal law, and to the extent not in conflict with federal law or agreements, for state departments or agencies to undertake forest health and fuels reduction projects on federal lands executed through these agreements, and to fund costs associated with planning, implementing, and maintaining these projects, including administrative and operational costs.

This bill would reorganize the law relating to the fund. The bill would require the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, under an agreement between the state and the federal government, to establish a program for purposes of conducting ecological restoration and fire resiliency projects on national forest lands, with priority given to forest restoration and fuels reduction projects that are landscape scale and are focused on ecological restoration and to community fire protection and protection of water and other infrastructure. The bill would require projects to be based on the best available science and emphasize the use of prescribed fire where appropriate. The bill would require projects with multiple benefits to be prioritized, as applicable and feasible. The bill would require projects to be designed, to the extent feasible, to prevent type conversion and the spread of invasive plants and grasses, provide for ecological restoration and fire resiliency projects appropriate to the landscape and vegetation being treated based upon the best available science, and provide ecologically appropriate treatment to native shrublands, as provided.