AB 388: California’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan: implementation strategies.

Existing law requires the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, including the Natural Resources Agency, the California Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Planning and Research, and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, in coordination with certain public agencies, to develop a comprehensive implementation strategy to track and ensure the achievement of the goals and key actions identified in the Californias Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, as provided.

Existing law establishes the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program to support regional leadership to build local and regional capacity and develop, prioritize, and implement strategies and projects that create fire adapted communities and landscapes by improving ecosystem health, community wildfire preparedness, and fire resilience. Under the program, the Department of Conservation is required to provide block grants to regional entities to develop regional strategies that develop governance structures, identify wildfire risks, foster collaboration, and prioritize and implement projects within the region to achieve the programs goals. Existing law requires that regional priority strategy development be in coordination with public landowners and other relevant forest and fire planning efforts in wildfire and forest resiliency planning.

This bill would, by January 1, 2025, require the Department of Conservation, in consultation with the task force and its member agencies, to establish guidelines for funding the implementation of the regional priority strategies, as provided, and to establish regional investment strategies to identify and align resources that support implementation of regional priority strategies that contribute to the goals and key actions identified in the Californias Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan issued by the task force in January 2021 and any subsequent updates to this plan, and the implementation strategy. The bill would authorize conservancies, departments, and boards within the Natural Resources Agency to directly award regional block grants to eligible regional entities, forest collaboratives, and partnerships to implement regional plans, strategies, agreements, and initiatives. The bill would require the department to provide the task force and to post on its internet website a description, amount, and outcome of each regional block grant.