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.

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 Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, as provided.

This bill would would, by January 1, 2025, require the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection, Department of Conservation, in consultation with the task force, force and its member agencies, to establish a roadmap for developing and deploying larger landscape level projects to contribute to the achievement of the goals outlined in the implementation strategy. 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 implementation strategy. The bill would authorize the director 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 authorize the department to transfer funding to other state agencies and departments to achieve the goals and key actions identified in the implementation strategy. 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 and fund transfer provided under the above provisions. grant.

The Budget Act of 2017 appropriated moneys to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for purposes of, among other things, providing local assistance grants, grants to fire safe councils, and grants to qualified nonprofit organizations with a demonstrated ability to satisfactorily plan, implement, and complete a fire prevention project for these same purposes, as provided. Existing law, until January 1, 2024, authorizes the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to authorize advance payments to a nonprofit organization, a local agency, a special district, a private forest landowner, or a Native American tribe from the grant awards specified above. Existing law places specified requirements on the grantee of the advance payment, including that the grantee file an accountability report with the department, as provided.

This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Senator Anthony Portantino, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular Session

AB 388 (Connolly) - California’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan: implementation strategies

Bill Summary:

This bill would require the Department of Conservation (DOC) to establish guidelines and regional investment strategies to support the goals and key actions identified in California’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, and would authorize the California Natural Resource Agency (CNRA) and its conservancies, departments, and boards to award regional block grants as provided.

Fiscal Impact:

• Ongoing cost pressure of an unknown but significant amount, likely in the tens of millions of dollars (General Fund, special fund, or bond funds), for the Legislature to provide funding for regional wildfire prevention and resilience block grants.
• DOC anticipates costs to establish guidelines and regional investment strategies would be minor and absorbable.

Background:

The Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program (RFFC Program). Existing law establishes the RFFC Program in DOC 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. The program provides block grants to regional entities, like state conservancies, resource conservation districts, and nongovernmental organizations, to prepare regional priority strategies, complete project development and permitting, implement demonstration projects, and build capacity to implement projects. The program also offers block grants to coordinating organizations to support the statewide implementation of the program.

A purpose of the program is to create a pipeline of shovel-ready, locally- and regionally-driven projects that reflect state goals and priorities for consideration for state and other funding sources. While the program funds some demonstration projects, in general, it does not fund projects.

The Budget Act of 2018 appropriated $20 million from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to CNRA to support regional implementation of landscape-level forest health projects (SB 856, Chapter 30, Statutes of 2018). CNRA partnered with DOC to develop and implement this program, which became the RFFC Program. In 2021, the Legislature amended the Budget Act of 2020 to appropriate $50 million GF in early action to DOC for the program (SB 85, Chapter 14, Statutes of 2021) and later in the year, adopted the Budget Act of 2021, appropriating another $60 million GF to DOC (SB 170, Chapter 240, Statutes of 2021).

DOC has already encumbered the original $20 million for the block grantees listed below. In 2022, the program released updated guidelines to solicit applications for the remaining $110 million, the purpose of which is to meet the mandate in existing law to ensure funded regional entities cover every part of the state that contains or is adjacent to a very high or high fire hazard severity zone, as specified. The table below shows the funded block grantees, by region.

Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan (Action Plan). In January 2021, the Administration released this Action Plan to reduce wildfire risk for vulnerable communities, improve forest and wildland health, and accelerate action to combat climate change. The Action Plan recommends expanding the RFFC Program to all high-risk areas statewide and to develop a pipeline of local and regional shovel-ready projects.

The Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force is a collaborative effort to align the activities of federal, state, local, public, private, and tribal organizations to support programs and projects tailored to the priorities and risks of each region, and bring the best available science to forest management and community protection efforts. SB 456 (Laird, Chapter 387, Statutes of 2021) directs the Task Force to update the Action Plan every five years and to develop a comprehensive implementation strategy to track achievement of the goals and key actions identified in this plan. This implementation strategy must also address other actions, including increasing the pace and scale of wildfire and forest resilience activities, strengthening the protection of communities and reducing their fire risk, creating a sustainable wood products market in California, sustaining and expanding outdoor recreation on forestland, protecting and expanding urban canopy and forestry, and driving innovation and measuring progress in achieving these goals, as specified. Finally, SB 456 requires the Task Force to annually report on progress made in achieving the goals and actions.

Proposed Law:

This bill would require DOC to establish guidelines and regional investment strategies to support the goals and key actions identified in California’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, and would authorize CNRA and its conservancies, departments, and boards to award regional block grants as provided. Specifically, this bill would:

1. Define “forest collaborative” to mean a functioning collaborative group that includes multiple persons or entities representing diverse interests, that is transparent and inclusive, and that has sufficient expertise, capacity, and scientific support to effectively plan, implement, and monitor landscape-level, ecological-based forest restoration activities.
2. Define “implementation strategy” to mean the comprehensive implementation strategy developed by the Task Force to track and ensure the achievement of the goals and key actions identified in the state’s Action Plan.
3. Direct DOC, in consultation with the Task Force and its member agencies, by January 1, 2025, to establish both of the following:
   1. Guidelines for funding the implementation of regional priority strategies developed under the RFFC Program. The guidelines must include monitoring and reporting requirements and other necessary criteria to carry out the purposes of the RFFC Program.
   2. Regional investment strategies to identify and align federal, state, local, tribal, and private sector resources that support implementation of regional priority strategies that contribute to achievement of the goals and key actions identified in the California’s 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.
4. Authorize CNRA’s conservancies, departments, and boards to directly award regional block grants to eligible regional entities, forest collaboratives, and partnerships to implement regional plans, strategies, agreements, and initiatives, including regional priority strategies developed under the RFFC Program and multijurisdictional landscape-scale projects.
   1. The purpose of this authority is to achieve the goals and key actions identified in the regional priority strategies, the California’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan issued by the task force in January 2021 and any subsequent updates to this plan, implementation strategy, and regional investment strategies.
5. Direct DOC to provide the Task Force and post on its internet website a description, amount, and outcome of each regional block grant.
6. Make a series of findings and declarations, including that it is the Legislature’s intent to match funding levels to the scale of the problem and the scale of regionally developed plans and projects.

Related Legislation:

SB 867 (Allen, 2023) would enact a new bond act, which, if approved by the voters at the March 5, 2024, statewide primary election, would authorize $15.5 billion in bond funds. Specifically, this bill would make $300 million available to DOC’s RFFC Program and $500 million available to implement regional strategies, as specified.

AB 1567 (Garcia, 2023) would enact a new bond act, which, if approved by the voters at the March 5, 2024, statewide primary election, would authorize $15.995 billion in bond funds. Specifically, this bill would make $150 million available to DOC’s RFFC Program and $300 million available to implement regional strategies, as specified.

SB 456 (Laird, Chapter 387, Statutes of 2021) requires the Task Force to update the Action Plan every five years, develop a comprehensive strategy to track achievement of the Action Plan, and report annually on its progress, as specified.

AB 9 (Wood, Chapter 225, Statutes of 2021) codified the RFFC program at DOC.

AB 1956 (Limón, Chapter 632, Statutes of 2018) established the Fire Prevention Grants Program at CalFire.

SB 859 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, Chapter 368, Statutes of 2016) authorized the CalFire director to create the Forest Health Grant Program.

Staff Comments:

Currently, CalFire, the state's conservancies, and the Wildlife Conservation Board mainly distribute grants on an individual project basis. A few, however, are explicitly authorized to offer block grants or have previously provided limited block grant funding. For instance, CalFire recently awarded a $10 million grant to the North Coast Resource Partnership (NCRP), an RFFC Program grantee, to implement project priorities detailed in the plan that NCRP formulated with RFFC Program funding.

This bill would authorize CNRA’s conservancies, departments, and boards to award regional block grants to qualifying entities to execute regional plans, strategies, agreements, and initiatives. This might include block grants for implementing RFFC regional priorities strategies and potentially funding other regional plans and initiatives developed outside the RFFC Program, like the Tahoe-Central Sierra Initiative. This initiative is a pilot project from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy’s Watershed Improvement Program that collaborates with federal, state, nonprofit, and private partners to restore resilience to 2.4 million acres of Sierra Nevada forests and watersheds.

The bill’s approach has merit for perpetuating the momentum that has been building at the local and regional levels within the RFFC Program. It could also be beneficial in funding multijurisdictional, landscape-scale endeavors for wildfire resilience and forest health that were developed outside the RFFC Program.

Staff note the Legislature is considering two bond bills that would make funding available for the RFFC Program and to implement regional strategies. Specifically:

• SB 867 (Allen, 2023) would enact a new bond act, which, if approved by the voters at the March 5, 2024, statewide primary election, would authorize $15.5 billion in bond funds. Specifically, this bill would make $300 million available to DOC’s RFFC Program and $500 million available to implement regional strategies, including strategies developed by forest collaboratives or RFFC regional entities, as specified.
• AB 1567 (Garcia, 2023) would enact a new bond act, which, if approved by the voters at the March 5, 2024, statewide primary election, would authorize $15.995 billion in bond funds. Specifically, this bill would make $150 million available to DOC’s RFFC Program and $300 million available to implement regional strategies, including strategies developed by forest collaboratives or RFFC regional entities, as specified.

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SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER

Senator Dave Min, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular

Bill No: AB 388 Hearing Date: July 3, 2023

Subject: Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan: implementation strategies: roadmap

BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW

Existing law:

1. Establishes the Department of Conservation (DOC) in the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) under the control of the director. Public Resources Code (PRC) §601.
2. Establishes the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program (RFFC Program) in DOC 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. PRC §4208.1.
3. Under the RFFC Program and upon an appropriation by the Legislature, requires DOC to:
   1. 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 goals of the program.
   2. Ensure, to the extent feasible, there are regional entities to cover every part of the state that contains or is adjacent to a very high or high fire hazard severity zone, as specified. PRC §4208.1.
4. Under the RFFC Program, authorizes regional entities awarded block grants to implement program activities directly or provide subgrants or contracts, and may implement collaborative planning efforts with local entities. The regional entity’s objectives are to:
   1. Develop regional priority strategies that develop and support fire adapted communities and landscapes, as specified.
   2. Complete project development and permitting to generate implementation-ready projects, as specified.
   3. Implement forest management demonstration projects and community fire preparedness demonstration projects, as specified.
   4. Develop outreach, education, and training as needed to facilitate and build capacity, as specified.
   5. Collect and assess data and information as needed to identify and map communities, infrastructure, forests, and watersheds at risk of, and vulnerable to, wildfire, in collaboration with appropriate state agencies, as specified. PRC §4208.1.
5. Establishes the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) in CNRA under the control of the director. PRC §701.
6. Directs CalFire to establish a local assistance grant program for fire prevention and home hardening education activities in California (Fire Prevention Grant Program). This program must establish a robust year-round fire prevention effort in and near fire threatened communities, as defined, which focuses on increasing the protection of people, structures, and communities. PRC §4124.5.
7. Authorizes the CalFire director to provide grants to, or enter into contracts or other cooperative agreements with, specified entities for the implementation and administration of projects and programs to improve forest health and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (Forest Health Grant Program). PRC §4799.05.
8. References the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force (Task Force), formerly known as the Forest Management Task Force, established by the Governor to oversee the implementation of Executive Order No. B-52-18 related to forest management, prescribed fire, and wood products. PRC §4005.
9. Directs the Task Force, on January 1, 2022, in coordination with relevant lead agencies, to develop a comprehensive implementation strategy to track and ensure the achievement of the goals and key actions identified in the “Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan.” PRC §4771.
10. Directs the Task Force, on or before January 1, 2026, and every five years thereafter, to update the “Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan.” PRC §4771.
11. Establishes ten state conservancies, all under CNRA, for various purposes, but generally to protect, conserve, restore, and enhance natural resources and provide public access and outdoor recreation opportunities.

Background

RFFC Program. Existing law establishes this 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. The program provides block grants to regional entities, like state conservancies, resource conservation districts (RCDs), and nongovernmental organizations, to prepare regional priority strategies, complete project development and permitting, implement demonstration projects, and build capacity to implement projects. The program also offers block grants to coordinating organizations to support the statewide implementation of the program.

A purpose of the program is to create a pipeline of shovel-ready, locally- and regionally-driven projects that reflect state goals and priorities for consideration for state and other funding sources. While the program funds some demonstration projects, in general, it does not fund projects.

The Budget Act of 2018 appropriated $20 million from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to CNRA to support regional implementation of landscape-level forest health projects (SB 856, Chapter 30, Statutes of 2018). CNRA partnered with DOC to develop and implement this program, which became the RFFC Program. In 2021, the Legislature amended the Budget Act of 2020 to appropriate $50 million GF in early action to DOC for the program (SB 85, Chapter 14, Statutes of 2021) and later in the year, adopted the Budget Act of 2021, appropriating another $60 million GF to DOC (SB 170, Chapter 240, Statutes of 2021).

DOC has already encumbered the original $20 million for the block grantees listed below. In 2022, the program released updated guidelines to solicit applications for the remaining $110 million, the purpose of which is to meet the mandate in existing law to ensure funded regional entities cover every part of the state that contains or is adjacent to a very high or high fire hazard severity zone, as specified. The table below shows the funded block grantees, by region.

Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan (Action Plan). In January 2021, the Administration released this Action Plan to reduce wildfire risk for vulnerable communities, improve forest and wildland health, and accelerate action to combat climate change. The Action Plan recommends expanding the RFFC Program to all high-risk areas statewide and to develop a pipeline of local and regional shovel-ready projects.

The Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force is a collaborative effort to align the activities of federal, state, local, public, private, and tribal organizations to support programs and projects tailored to the priorities and risks of each region, and bring the best available science to forest management and community protection efforts. SB 456 (Laird, Chapter 387, Statutes of 2021) directs the Task Force to update the Action Plan every five years and to develop a comprehensive implementation strategy to track achievement of the goals and key actions identified in this plan. This implementation strategy must also address other actions, including increasing the pace and scale of wildfire and forest resilience activities, strengthening the protection of communities and reducing their fire risk, creating a sustainable wood products market in California, sustaining and expanding outdoor recreation on forestland, protecting and expanding urban canopy and forestry, and driving innovation and measuring progress in achieving these goals, as specified. Finally, SB 456 requires the Task Force to annually report on progress made in achieving the goals and actions.

PROPOSED LAW

This bill would authorize CNRA’s conservancies, departments, and boards to award regional block grants to specified entities to implement regional plans, strategies, agreements, and initiatives, including regional priority strategies developed under the RFFC Program, to achieve the goals and key actions of these plans and strategies, including the comprehensive implementation strategy prepared by the Task Force for the state’s “Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan.”

Specifically, this bill would:

1. Define “forest collaborative” to mean a functioning collaborative group that includes multiple persons or entities representing diverse interests, that is transparent and inclusive, and that has sufficient expertise, capacity, and scientific support to effectively plan, implement, and monitor landscape-level, ecological-based forest restoration activities.
2. Define “implementation strategy” to mean the comprehensive implementation strategy developed by the Task Force to track and ensure the achievement of the goals and key actions identified in the state’s Action Plan.
3. Direct DOC, in consultation with the Task Force and its member agencies, by January 1, 2025, to establish both of the following:
   1. Guidelines for funding the implementation of regional priority strategies developed under the RFFC Program. The guidelines must include monitoring and reporting requirements and other necessary criteria to carry out the purposes of the RFFC Program.
   2. Regional investment strategies to identify and align federal, state, local, tribal, and private sector resources that support implementation of regional priority strategies that contribute to achievement of the goals and key actions identified in the implementation strategy, as defined.
4. Authorize CNRA’s conservancies, departments, and boards to directly award regional block grants to eligible regional entities, forest collaboratives, and partnerships to implement regional plans, strategies, agreements, and initiatives, including regional priority strategies developed under the RFFC Program and multijurisdictional landscape-scale projects.
   1. The purpose of this authority is to achieve the goals and key actions identified in the regional priority strategies, implementation strategy, and regional investment strategies.
5. Direct DOC to provide the Task Force and post on its internet website a description, amount, and outcome of each regional block grant.
6. Make a series of findings and declarations, including that it is the Legislature’s intent to match funding levels to the scale of the problem and the scale of regionally developed plans and projects.

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT

According to the author, “Catastrophic wildfire has increased in frequency and severity over the last decade and continues to be one of California's greatest threats to loss of human life, property, and ecosystem function. Wildfires are also increasingly happening across large landscapes (tens to hundreds of thousands of acres). In recognition of the need to better plan for wildfire and build resilience regionally, the Legislature codified the RFFC at DOC to catalyze the building of regional capacity to develop regional priority plans for purposes of wildfire prevention and resilience. AB 388 would build upon that effort by requiring DOC, in consultation with the Wildfire Taskforce and its member agencies, to develop guidelines for funding the implementation of the regional priority strategies and to establish regional investment strategies that support implementation. This bill would also ensure conservancies, departments, and boards within CNRA have the ability to provide block grants at the regional level for collaboratives such as those that resulted from the RFFC process to implement landscape-scale forest restoration and wildfire resilience initiatives.”

ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION

None received.

COMMENTS

This bill. Currently, CalFire, the state’s conservancies, and the Wildlife Conservation Board mostly offer grants on a project-by-project basis. Some, however, have explicit authority to offer block grants or have offered some limited block grant funding. For example, CalFire recently awarded a $10 million grant to the North Coast Resource Partnership (NCRP), an RFFC Program grantee, to implement project priorities identified in the plan NCRP developed with RFFC Program funding.

This bill would authorize CNRA’s conservancies, departments, and boards to award regional block grants to eligible entities, as specified, to implement regional plans, strategies, agreements, and initiatives. This could include block grants to implement RFFC regional priorities strategies. It also could include funding other regional plans and initiatives that have developed outside of the RFFC Program, like the Tahoe-Central Sierra Initiative, a pilot project from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy’s Watershed Improvement Program, which brings federal, state, nonprofit, and private partners together to restore the resilience of 2.4 million acres of Sierra Nevada forests and watersheds.

It is worth noting that this bill would have broader implications for programs not explicitly called out in this bill that are administered by CNRA’s conservancies, departments, and boards. For example, under this bill, CalFire could shift or expand the focus of its Forest Health and Fire Prevention Grant Programs, which, as noted above, primarily fund project-level grants, to fund multijurisdictional, landscape-scale block grants. Further, under this bill DOC could officially expand the RFFC Program to fund implementation of regional plans and projects, in addition to the program’s original focus of funding the development of plans and projects.

There is merit in the bill’s approach to continue the momentum developing at the local and regional levels under the RFFC Program. This approach can also be helpful for funding multijurisdictional, landscape-scale approaches to wildfire resilience and forest health outside that developed outside of the RFFC Program.

Funding guidelines. This bill would direct DOC, in consultation with the Task Force and its member agencies, to establish guidelines for funding the implementation of regional priority strategies developed under the RFFC Program, as specified. It is worth noting that the scope of these funding guidelines is limited to implementation of RFFC regional priority strategies, whereas the bill authorizes specified agencies to fund block grants to implement a much broader set of regional plans and initiatives. As the administrator of the RFFC Program, it makes sense that DOC would focus its guidance on funding plans coming from that program. Further, this limitation recognizes that DOC is not an oversight agency for the programs of other agencies. In other words, it would be inappropriate for DOC to impose mandates on the programs of other departments, boards, and conservancies under CNRA.

Regional investment strategies. This bill would direct DOC, in consultation with the Task Force and its member agencies, to establish regional investment strategies to identify and align federal, state, local, tribal, and private sector resources that support implementation of regional priority strategies, as specified. In other words, regional entities under the RFFC Program prepare regional priority strategies and, under this bill, DOC would prepare regional investment strategies to help identify funding opportunities to implement the regional priority strategies. This direction is consistent with existing law, which directs DOC to assist regions in identifying potential funding sources for regional priorities (see PRC §4208.1(d)(3)). Further, the Action Plan directs DOC to develop investment strategies that provide dedicated ongoing funding for implementation (see Key Action 1.30).

Reporting. This bill would direct DOC to provide the Task Force and post on its internet website a description, amount, and outcome of each regional block grant. Thus, the bill would require DOC to report on block grants under the RFFC Program, which it administers, and block grants provided by other CNRA departments, boards, and conservancies. The bill does not specify whether the agencies would report this information directly to DOC or whether the grantees would report to DOC in addition to their normal grant reporting to their granting agency. If the bill moves forward, the author may wish to clarify this point.

Bond funds. The Legislature is considering two bond bills which would make funding available for the RFFC Program and to implement regional strategies. Specifically:

• SB 867 (Allen, 2023) would enact a new bond act, which, if approved by the voters at the March 5, 2024, statewide primary election, would authorize $15.5 billion in bond funds. Specifically, this bill would make $300 million available to DOC’s RFFC Program and $500 million available to implement regional strategies, including strategies developed by forest collaboratives or RFFC regional entities, as specified. This bill is pending before the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.
• AB 1567 (Garcia, 2023) would enact a new bond act, which, if approved by the voters at the March 5, 2024, statewide primary election, would authorize $15.995 billion in bond funds. Specifically, this bill would make $150 million available to DOC’s RFFC Program and $300 million available to implement regional strategies, including strategies developed by forest collaboratives or RFFC regional entities, as specified. This bill is pending before this committee.

Support if amended letter. Endangered Habitats League (EHL) submitted a letter registering a support if amended position on June 16, 2023. The bill would require DOC, in consultation with the Task Force and its member agencies, to establish guidelines for funding the implementation of regional priority strategies developed under the RFFC Program, as specified. EHL requests an amendment to require the guidelines to “incorporate goals for funded activities that promote the ecological health of the native vegetation communities affected, avoid conversion to non-native species, and restore habitat values.” The author notes that this language may be more appropriate as a requirement for the regional priority strategies developed under the RFFC Program than for DOC’s guidance to other agencies.

Committee amendments. The committee may wish to amend the bill to add the Action Plan to the list of regional and statewide strategies and plans that the bill would support implementation of and to add Senator Min as a coauthor. See amendments.

Related legislation.

SB 867 (Allen, 2023) would enact a new bond act, which, if approved by the voters at the March 5, 2024, statewide primary election, would authorize $15.5 billion in bond funds. Specifically, this bill would make $300 million available to DOC’s RFFC Program and $500 million available to implement regional strategies, as specified. This bill is pending before the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.

AB 1567 (Garcia, 2023) would enact a new bond act, which, if approved by the voters at the March 5, 2024, statewide primary election, would authorize $15.995 billion in bond funds. Specifically, this bill would make $150 million available to DOC’s RFFC Program and $300 million available to implement regional strategies, as specified. This bill is pending before this committee.

Previous legislation.

SB 456 (Laird, Chapter 387, Statutes of 2021) requires the Task Force to update the Action Plan every five years, develop a comprehensive strategy to track achievement of the Action Plan, and report annually on its progress, as specified.

AB 9 (Wood, Chapter 225, Statutes of 2021) codified the RFFC program at DOC.

AB 1956 (Limón, Chapter 632, Statutes of 2018) established the Fire Prevention Grants Program at CalFire.

SB 859 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, Chapter 368, Statutes of 2016) authorized the CalFire director to create the Forest Health Grant Program.

SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS

Add Senator Min as a coauthor

Amend Section 4208.2 of the Public Resources Code, as proposed in Section 3 of the bill, as follows:

4208.2. (a) The department, in consultation with the task force and its member agencies, by January 1, 2025, shall establish both of the following:

(1) Guidelines for funding the implementation of regional priority strategies developed pursuant to Section 4208.1 that shall include monitoring and reporting requirements and other criteria determined as necessary to carry out the purposes of this article.

(2) Regional investment strategies to identify and align federal, state, local, tribal, and private sector resources that support implementation of regional priority strategies that contribute to achievement of the goals and key actions identified in the state’s “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.

(b) To achieve the goals and key actions identified in the regional priority strategies, the state’s “Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan” issued by the task force in January 2021 and any subsequent updates to this plan, implementation strategy, and regional investment strategies, conservancies, departments, and boards within the Natural Resources Agency may directly award regional block grants to eligible regional entities, forest collaboratives, and partnerships to implement regional plans, strategies, agreements, and initiatives, including, but not limited to, regional priority strategies developed pursuant to Section 4208.1 and multijurisdictional landscape-scale projects.

(c) The department shall provide the task force and shall post on its internet website a description, amount, and outcome of each regional block grant.

SUPPORT

California Association of Resource Conservation Districts (sponsor)

East Bay Municipal Utilities District

Endangered Habitats League (support if amended)

Humboldt Redwood Company

Mendocino Redwood Company

Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority

Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District

Rural County Representatives of California

Sierra Business Council

The Nature Conservancy

OPPOSITION

None

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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING

ATR Bill Id:AB 388

Author:(Connolly)

As Amended Ver:May 18, 2023

Majority vote

SUMMARY

Requires the Department of Conservation (DOC), in consultation with the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force (Task Force), and its member agencies, by January 1, 2025, to establish guidelines and regional investment strategies for larger landscape level projects that contribute to the achievement of the goals of the implementation strategy for the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan.

Major Provisions

1. Requires DOC to develop guidelines for funding the implementation of regional priority strategies that include monitoring and reporting requirements and other criteria.
2. Requires DOC to develop regional investment strategies to identify and align federal, state, local, tribal, and private sector resources that support implementation of regional priority strategies that contribute to achievement of the goals and key actions identified in the implementation strategy.
3. Authorizes conservancies, departments, and boards within the Natural Resources Agency (NRA) to directly award regional block grants to eligible regional entities, forest collaboratives, and partnerships to implement regional plans, strategies, agreements, and initiatives, including, but not limited to, regional priority strategies and multijurisdictional landscape-scale projects.
4. Requires DOC to provide the Task Force and post on its internet website a description, amount, and outcome of each regional block grant.

COMMENTS

The health and wellbeing of California communities and ecosystems depend on urgent and effective forest and rangeland stewardship to restore resilient and diverse ecosystems. It is estimated that as many as 15 million acres of California forests need some form of restoration. With California’s landscape heavily divided among multiple landowners, coordinated stewardship is critical to success.

The Task Force was established in 2018 to develop a framework for establishing healthy and resilient forests that can withstand and adapt to wildfire, drought and a changing climate. In 2019, DOC launched the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program (RFFC) program to build the capacity of regional collaboratives through a common framework of regional forest and community resilience plans.

Through RFFC, DOC provides 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 goals of the program. Block grants are used by recipients to support partner capacity, project readiness, implementation of demonstration projects, and regional priority planning to achieve landscape-level and community wildfire resilience. Regional block grantees are expected to partner extensively across their region to identify priorities and develop projects.

According to the Author

Catastrophic wildfire has increased in frequency and severity over the last decade and continues to be one of California's greatest threats to loss of human life, property, and ecosystem function. Wildfires are also increasingly happening across large landscapes (tens to hundreds of thousands of acres). In recognition of the need to better plan for wildfire and build resilience regionally, the Legislature codified the RFFC at DOC to catalyze the building of regional capacity to develop regional priority plans for purposes of wildfire prevention and resilience. AB 388 would build upon that effort to ensure CAL FIRE has the ability to direct funding at the regional level for collaboratives such as those that resulted from the RFFC process to implement landscape-scale forest restoration and wildfire resilience initiatives.

Arguments in Support

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) writes, "Fires in California continue to set new records for the "largest," "most damaging," "worst air quality," and "most costly" that we have ever seen … The provisions included in AB 388 are vital to increasing the pace and scale of forest resilience work to meet the state's goal of treating one million acres annually by 2025 … AB 388 will contribute to larger landscape scale projects that will be vital in stopping mega-fires and restoring resiliency to California's natural lands."

Arguments in Opposition

Endangered Habitats League writes, "AB 388 would facilitate "larger landscape level" fuel treatments via block grants and other measures. The problem is that no differentiation is made between landscape treatments that may help (as in conifer forests) and landscape treatments that may harm. Specifically, in the shrublands (coastal sage scrub and chaparral) that cover much of the state, landscape treatments are generally ill-conceived. Such lands are already stressed by too-frequent human-caused fire. Outside of narrowly defined fuel reduction measures, additional fuel reduction – especially at a "landscape" scale – is counterproductive, as it converts native vegetation to flammable weeds ("type conversion"). The fires of concern in shrublands are wind rather than fuel-driven, and such treatments do not address the wind-borne embers that are the primary cause of structure loss."

FISCAL COMMENTS

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this bill would result in cost pressure of an unknown but significant amount, likely in the tens of millions of dollars, for the conservancies, departments, and boards within the NRA to award and oversee regional wildfire prevention and resilience block grants (General Fund), and costs of an unknown amount for DOC to establish regional investment strategies and guidelines for funding the implementation of regional priority strategies, including monitoring and reporting requirements.

VOTES

ASM NATURAL RESOURCES: 11-0-0

YES: Luz Rivas, Flora, Addis, Friedman, Hoover, Mathis, Muratsuchi, Pellerin, Ward, Wood, Zbur

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 11-0-5

YES: Holden, Bryan, Calderon, Wendy Carrillo, Mike Fong, Hart, Lowenthal, Papan, Pellerin, Weber, Ortega

ABS, ABST OR NV: Megan Dahle, Dixon, Mathis, Robert Rivas, Sanchez

UPDATED

VERSION: May 18, 2023

CONSULTANT: Paige Brokaw / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092 FN: 0000650

Date of Hearing: May 3, 2023

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Chris Holden, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 388

Author:(Connolly) – As Amended Ver:March 2, 2023

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

This bill requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) to establish a roadmap for landscape level projects and authorizes CAL FIRE to award regional forest health and fire resilience block grants.

Specifically, this bill:

1. Requires the director of CAL FIRE, in consultation with the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force (Task Force), to establish a roadmap for developing and deploying larger landscape-level projects to contribute to the achievement of the goals outlined in the implementation strategy for the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan (implementation strategy).
2. Authorizes the director, to achieve the goals and key actions identified in the implementation strategy, to directly award regional block grants to eligible regional entities, forest collaboratives, and partnerships to implement regional plans, strategies, agreements, and initiatives, including specified regional priority strategies and multijurisdictional landscape-scale projects.
3. Authorizes CAL FIRE to transfer funding to other state agencies or departments to achieve the goals and key actions identified in the implementation strategy.
4. Requires CAL FIRE to provide the Task Force, and post on its website, a description, amount, and outcome of each regional block grant or fund transfer provided pursuant to this bill.

FISCAL EFFECT:

1) Cost pressure of an unknown but significant amount, likely in the tens of millions of dollars, to fund regional wildfire prevention and resilience block grants.

2) Costs of an unknown amount for CAL FIRE to administer and oversee regional block grants. CAL FIRE has limited experience with awarding large, multi-jurisdictional, landscape-level grants. This bill would create additional workload for CAL FIRE staff, which could not be absorbed within the department’s existing resources.

COMMENTS:

1) Purpose. According to the author:

Catastrophic wildfire has increased in frequency and severity over the last decade and continues to be one of California’s greatest threats to loss of human life, property, and ecosystem function. Wildfires are also increasingly happening across large landscapes (tens to hundreds of thousands of acres). In recognition of the need to better plan for wildfire and build resilience regionally, the Legislature codified the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program (RFFC) at the Department of Conservation (DOC) to catalyze the building of regional capacity to develop regional priority plans for purposes of wildfire prevention and resilience. AB 388 would build upon that effort to ensure CAL FIRE has the ability to direct funding at the regional level for collaboratives such as those that resulted from the RFFC process to implement landscape-scale forest restoration and wildfire resilience initiatives.

2) Background. Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force. The Task Force was established in 2018 to develop a framework for establishing healthy and resilient forests that can withstand and adapt to wildfire, drought, and a changing climate. The Task Force developed the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan in 2021 to integrate recommendations from existing state and federal plans that tackle various aspects of the state’s forest health and wildfire crisis. The Action Plan advances nearly 100 actions under four goals, namely to (1) increase the pace and scale of forest health projects, (2) strengthen community protection, (3) manage forests to achieve the state’s economic and environmental goals, and (4) drive innovation and measure progress. The Action Plan will be updated every five years; the next plan will be released in January 2026.

Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program (RFFC). The RFFC program at Department of Conservation (DOC) is a key component of the regional framework adopted by the Task Force. It provides a structure for state, federal, and local entities to coordinate their efforts in each of four major geographic regions of the state and to enhance regional leadership and capacity to respond to wildfire and forest health crises within each region. Through RFFC, DOC provides block grants to regional entities to develop plans and projects to increase the pace and scale of forest restoration and wildfire mitigation projects. Since 2019, the program has received state funding totaling $130 million for programming through 2028.

According to the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts (CARCD), the sponsor of this bill:

Many of these plans, also known as Regional Priority Plans (RPPs), are at or nearing the completion point with hundreds of projects identified, developed, and/or ready for implementation. While the RFFC Program provides funding for coordination and regional planning, it does not provide funding for the implementation of the projects in the RPPs. CalFire operates the Forest Health Grant Program and the Wildfire Prevention Grant Program which provides grant funding for a variety of projects to support wildfire prevention. However, the funding for these programs is scaled to and directed at the project level. AB 388 would authorize CALFIRE to make block grants available at the regional level that would enable and encourage partnerships such as those created through the RFFC process to implement landscape-scale forest restoration and wildfire resilience initiatives. Awarding block grants to regional entities that have been stood up by RFFC will elevate the state’s wildfire mitigation efforts. In addition, several state conservancies are the leading regional efforts to develop RPPs and projects but awarding funds via grants from CalFire to these conservancies is inefficient and burdensome. AB 388 would authorize CalFire to transfer funding directly to these conservancies for implementation of RPPs.

RFFC does not fund implementation beyond demonstration projects. According to DOC, the program is playing a central role in a much larger effort across the Task Force agencies to mobilize a massive supply chain to scale up wildfire resilience actions statewide. With the significant amount of wildfire funding approved by the state over the last several years, the state is targeting each portion of this supply chain, such as outreach, strategic planning, design, permitting, implementation, and maintenance. DOC notes it is focused on making sure every fire-prone region of the state is able to establish its priorities, have strong local partners in place, and prepare pipelines of shovel-ready projects for CAL FIRE, the U.S. Forest Service, and other agencies to fund.

In June 2022, CAL FIRE awarded a $4 million Wildfire Resilience Block Grant to 10 resource conservation districts located throughout the state to fund forest fuel reduction and fire readiness projects. CAL FIRE notes this was a one-time allocation. Providing block grants to regional entities to implement plans developed through the RFFC process will require additional funding approved by the Legislature.

Analysis Prepared by: Nikita Koraddi / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: March 27, 2023

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES

Luz Rivas, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 388 (

Author:Connolly) – As Amended Ver:March 2, 2023

SUBJECT: Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan: implementation strategies: roadmap.

SUMMARY: Requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) to establish a roadmap for developing and deploying larger landscape level projects to contribute to the achievement of the goals of the implementation strategy for the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan (Action Plan).

EXISTING LAW:

1. Establishes, pursuant to Executive Order No. B-52-18, a Forest Management Task Force, now known as the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force (Task Force), involving specified state agencies to create the action plan for wildfire and forest resilience. (Public Resources Code (PRC) § 4005)
2. Requires the Task Force to develop a “Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan” (Action Plan) as a strategy to integrate recommendations from existing state and federal plans that tackle various aspects of the state’s forest health and wildfire crisis. Requires the Task Force to develop a comprehensive implementation strategy to track and ensure the achievement of the goals and key actions identified in the Action Plan issued by the task force in January 2021. (PRC § 4771)
3. Requires the Task Force, including the Natural Resources Agency (NRA), the California Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Planning and Research, and CAL FIRE, 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 Action Plan. (PRC § 4771)
4. Establishes the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program (RFFC) at the Department of Conservation (DOC) 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. (PRC § 4208, et seq)
5. Directs NRA to advance efforts to conserve biodiversity to, among other things, strategically prioritize investments in cooperative, high-priority actions that promote biodiversity protection, habitat restoration, wildfire-resilient, sustainably managed landscapes and other conservation outcomes. (Executive Order B-52-18)
6. Requires the Task Force, including the Natural Resources Agency (NRA), the California Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Planning and Research, and CAL FIRE, 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 Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan. (PRC § 4771)
7. Establishes the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program (RFFC) at the Department of Conservation (DOC) 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. (PRC § 4208, et seq)
8. Directs NRA to advance efforts to conserve biodiversity to, among other things, strategically prioritize investments in cooperative, high-priority actions that promote biodiversity protection, habitat restoration, wildfire-resilient, sustainably managed landscapes and other conservation outcomes. (Executive Order B-52-18)

THIS BILL:

1. States the intent of the Legislature to match funding levels to the scale of the problem and the scale of regionally developed plans and projects.
2. Requires the director of CAL FIRE, in consultation with the Task Force, to establish a roadmap for developing and deploying larger landscape level projects to contribute to the achievement of the goals outlined in the implementation strategy.
3. Authorizes the director to achieve the goals and key actions identified in the implementation strategy by directly awarding regional block grants to eligible regional entities, forest collaboratives, and partnerships to implement regional plans, strategies, agreements, and initiatives, including, but not limited to, regional priority strategies and multijurisdictional landscape-scale projects.
4. Authorizes CAL FIRE to transfer funding to other state agencies or departments to achieve the goals and key actions identified in the implementation strategy.
5. Requires CAL FIRE to provide the Task Force, and post on its internet website, a description, amount, and outcome of each regional block grant or fund transfer provided pursuant to this bill.

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.

COMMENTS:

1. Need for the bill. According to the author,

Catastrophic wildfire has increased in frequency and severity over the last decade and continues to be one of California’s greatest threats to loss of human life, property, and ecosystem function. Wildfires are also increasingly happening across large landscapes (tens to hundreds of thousands of acres).

In recognition of the need to better plan for wildfire and build resilience regionally, the Legislature codified the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program (RFFC) at the Department of Conservation (DOC) to catalyze the building of regional capacity to develop regional priority plans for purposes of wildfire prevention and resilience.

AB 388 would build upon that effort to ensure CAL FIRE has the ability to direct funding at the regional level for collaboratives such as those that resulted from the RFFC process to implement landscape-scale forest restoration and wildfire resilience initiatives.

1. Regional fire prevention. California’s forests naturally adapted to low-intensity fire, nature’s preferred management tool, but Gold Rush-era clearcutting followed by a wholesale policy of fire suppression resulted in the overly dense, ailing forests that dominate the landscape today. Compounding risks have made it nearly impossible for nature to self-correct. A cycle of catastrophic wildfires, longer fire seasons, severe drought, intense wind, tree mortality, invasive species, and human population pressure threaten to convert conifer forests to shrublands and shrublands to invasive grasses.

The health and wellbeing of California communities and ecosystems depend on urgent and effective forest and rangeland stewardship to restore resilient and diverse ecosystems. With California’s landscape heavily divided among multiple landowners, coordinated stewardship is critical to success.

Recent wildfires have been the deadliest, most destructive, costliest, and largest in state history, while more than 129 million trees, primarily in the Sierra Nevada, have died from drought and insects since 2010.

It is estimated that as many as 15 million acres of California forests need some form of restoration. This area is composed of approximately 10 million acres of federal lands and five million acres of private and other public lands ranked as high priority for reducing wildfire threats to maintain ecological health.

Since fire doesn’t abide by human-made land-owner boundaries, regional coordination is critical to forest health management and wildfire prevention.

1. Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force. The Task Force was established in 2018 to develop a framework for establishing healthy and resilient forests that can withstand and adapt to wildfire, drought and a changing climate. The Task Force developed the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan (Action Plan) to integrate recommendations from existing state and federal plans that tackle various aspects of the state’s forest health and wildfire crisis.
2. California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan. The January 2021 Action Plan is the initial five-year plan for implementing the Agreement for Shared Stewardship of California’s Forest and Rangelands (Shared Stewardship Agreement) with the United States Forest Service (USFS), coordinating the state’s forestry efforts with other federal, local, tribal, regional, and private organizations. The Action Plan details four goals, each with a subset of actions.

• Goal 1 encompasses efforts to coordinate federal and state agencies in the treatment of 500,000 acres annually by 2025 through the Shared Stewardship Agreement.
• Goal 2 is to strengthen protection of communities to underscore building resilience in threatened communities through adaptive strategies, such as “hardening homes, buildings, and infrastructure, increasing defensible space and fuel breaks, and strengthening community planning and preparedness.”
• Goal 3 identifies forest thinning and prescribed fire as strategies for promoting the growth of more fire-resistant trees, and dually aims to expand forested landscapes and stimulate rural economic development and sustainable job markets.
• To reduce threats of wildfire and climate change while supporting adaptation efforts, Goal 4 communicates the need for bold innovation in monitoring and research. This will involve utilizing best available science, and expanding monitoring and reporting programs.

The Action Plan aligns with investments in last fiscal year’s budget to combat wildfire risk and improve the health of forested landscapes. The Action Plan will be updated every 5 years; the next plan will be released in January 2026.

1. Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program. At the federal level, the USFS is moving toward a regional framework of coordinated management and shared resources, in which national forest units are grouped into “zones” of four to six national forests, where individual work plans and resources are increasingly integrated. Furthermore, with a renewed national prioritization of Shared Stewardship Agreements, the USFS continues to support collaborative forest management with California and stakeholders across all lands at increasingly large landscape scales.

Despite this progress, many of the newly established collaboratives lack guidance on assessing risk and developing landscape-scale strategies. They also lack dedicated funding to sustain their efforts and build a pipeline of projects. To fill this gap, in 2019, pursuant to AB 9 (Wood, Chapter 225, Statutes of 2021), DOC launched the RFFC program to build the capacity of regional collaboratives through a common framework of regional forest and community resilience plans.

Through RFFC, DOC provides 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 goals of the program.

Block grants are used by recipients to support partner capacity, project readiness, implementation of demonstration projects, and regional priority planning to achieve landscape-level and community wildfire resilience consistent with the Action Plan as well as the California Forest Carbon Plan and Executive Order B-52-18.

Regional block grantees are expected to partner extensively across their region to identify priorities and develop projects. Current block grantees partner heavily with state, federal, tribal, and local governments as well as water agencies, resource conservation districts, fire safe councils, and other nonprofits.

1. This bill. The Action Plan notes that the RFFC program does not cover all high-risk areas of the state, and not all forested areas are covered within existing regional initiatives. Further, the Action Plan identifies a key action (1.30) for DOC to develop a regional pipeline of shovel-ready projects and investment strategies that provide dedicated ongoing funding for implementation. Key regional stakeholders include the Sierra Nevada, Tahoe, Coastal, and Santa Monica Mountains Conservancies in allocating funds.

Consistent with that key action, and building off the RFFC efforts, AB 388 would require CAL FIRE to establish a roadmap for developing and deploying larger landscape level projects to achieve the goals outlined in the implementation strategy, and would authorize regional block grants to eligible regional entities, including forest collaboratives, and partnerships to implement regional plans, strategies, agreements, and initiatives.

The Humboldt and Mendocino Redwoods Companies write in support:

While state funding has increased over the last few years for fuel reduction projects, the vast majority of projects involve small acreages. If the state is to meet its goal of treating 500,000 acres annually by 2025 (1 million acres annually in conjunction with federal partners) funded projects need to be sized at the landscape level to make any meaningful contribution towards this goal. Landscape-level projects will also provide large areas of wildfire-resilient forests where firefighters have an upper hand in stopping wildfires moving towards communities.

1. Related legislation. AB 788 (Petrie Norris) would require the Task Force to annually compile and post on its internet website specified information relating to state and federal grant programs relating to fire prevention. AB 788 is scheduled to be heard in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee on March 27.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

California Association of Resource Conservation Districts
Humboldt and Mendocino Redwood Companies
The Nature Conservancy
Sierra Business Council

Opposition

None on file.

Analysis Prepared by: Paige Brokaw / NAT. RES. /