BILL ANALYSIS �
AJR 24
Page 1
Date of Hearing: July 1, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Wesley Chesbro, Chair
AJR 24 (Dahle) - As Introduced: June 3, 2013
SUBJECT : Forest protection and restoration
SUMMARY : Encourages the state and federal governmental agencies
with jurisdiction over forest resource management to collaborate
across jurisdictions with regard to landscape-scale efforts to
maintain and restore California's forests to protect the state's
natural resources and water supply for future generations.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Finds and declares that that the forest resources and
timberlands of the state are among the most valuable of the
natural resources of the state and that there is great concern
throughout the state relating to their utilization,
restoration, and protection.
2)Finds and declares that the forest resources and timberlands
of the state furnish high-quality timber, recreational
opportunities, and aesthetic enjoyment while providing
watershed protection and maintaining fisheries and wildlife.
3)Declares that it is the policy of this state to encourage
prudent and responsible forest resource management calculated
to serve the public's need for timber and other forest
products, while giving consideration to the public's need for
watershed protection, fisheries and wildlife, sequestration of
carbon dioxide, and recreational opportunities alike in this
and future generations.
THIS BILL :
1)Declares all of the following:
a) One of the greatest ongoing challenges for California is
to ensure an adequate supply of water for myriad human uses
and other environmental needs while also addressing the
increasing and negative impacts of climate change on our
watersheds;
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b) The large majority of the water used by California
originates in the 10 million-acre forested area of northern
California feeding the Sacramento River, with the
Sacramento River providing 60 percent of the water for the
Central Valley and state water projects, drinking water for
25 million Californians, and over 80 percent of the
freshwater to San Francisco Bay;
c) California's forests represent our largest, safest, and
most expandable opportunity to actively remove carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere;
d) The forests and watersheds of California face multiple
challenges and pressures, including the loss and
degradation of forests by the subdivision, fragmentation,
and development of lands, the planting of unnaturally dense
forests as a result of fire suppression, and stresses from
a changing climate;
e) California's forests provide an essential natural
infrastructure that collects, stores, filters, and
transports water in a materially more cost-effective manner
than any built infrastructure;
f) Managing these forested watersheds to restore and
enhance their sustained water provision services will also
create rural jobs and enhance the state's ability to
address climate change, including by reducing fire-fighting
costs;
g) In addition to supplying the majority of the state's
water and sequestering vast amounts of carbon, forests
clean our air and provide habitat for wildlife, all while
supporting rural economies through outdoor recreation such
as hunting, fishing, hiking, and camping, as well as
through the forest products industry; and
h) Preventing further loss of California's forests,
restoring degraded forest areas, and improving management
are critical parts of ensuring that our watersheds continue
to store carbon and produce high-quality clean water in the
future.
2)Recognizes the value of forests in providing critical
ecosystem services, including water supply and climate
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stabilization services.
3)Encourages the state and federal governmental agencies with
jurisdiction over forest resource management to collaborate
across jurisdictions with regard to landscape-scale efforts to
maintain and restore California's forests to protect the
state's natural resources and water supply for future
generations.
FISCAL EFFECT : Non-fiscal
COMMENTS : As development pressures continue to threaten the
contiguous nature of forested landscapes, the need to study and
highlight the importance of forests to the quality of our
drinking water becomes clearer. Protecting forested landscapes
is a cost-effective and efficient way of protecting water
quality and saving money for water ratepayers. A 2004 report by
the Trust for Public Land entitled "Protecting the Source" noted
that "[a] study of 27 water suppliers conducted by the Trust for
Public Land and the American Water Works Association in 2002
found that more forest cover in a watershed results in lower
treatment costs. According to the study, for every 10 percent
increase in forest cover in the source area, treatment and
chemical costs decreased approximately 20 percent, and
approximately 50 to 55 percent of the variation in treatment
costs can be explained by the percentage of forest cover in the
source area."
Forestland at the landscape level is also an efficient mechanism
for sequestering carbon from the atmosphere and thereby reducing
the impacts of climate change. In 2010, the Department of
Forestry and Fire Protection estimated that California's forests
sequestered as much as 30 million metric tons of carbon.
Maintaining these levels of sequestration requires the
landscape-scale management of forestland that this resolution
seeks to address.
Landscape conservation can be politically and administratively
difficult given the multiple governmental entities with
jurisdiction over California's forestlands. The federal
government, the state of California, and Native American tribes
all plays a role in managing forestlands that affect water
quality across large areas. The Lincoln Center of Land Policy
noted in its 2010 report entitled "Large Landscape Conservation:
A Strategic Framework for Policy and Action" that "several
AJR 24
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barriers still must be addressed for this [landscape] approach
to land and water conservation to endure. Barriers include the
lack of both scientific information and knowledge about the
structure and function of large landscape conservation
initiatives; the lack of capacity to organize, achieve, and
advocate for large landscape conservation goals; the lack of a
strategy to facilitate coordination among fragmented efforts and
to foster innovative experiments; the lack of policy tools to
implement large landscape conservation; and fragmented financial
investments."
This resolution, which promotes cooperation and collaboration
between the state of California and the federal government, is
particularly timely given the Obama Administration's June 2013
announced Climate Action Plan, which makes the following
statement regarding our forests:
America's forests play a critical role in addressing
carbon pollution, removing nearly 12 percent of total
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions each year. In the face
of a changing climate and increased risk of wildfire,
drought, and pests, the capacity of our forests to
absorb carbon is diminishing. Pressures to develop
forest lands for urban or agricultural uses also
contribute to the decline of forest carbon
sequestration. Conservation and sustainable management
can help to ensure our forests continue to remove
carbon from the atmosphere while also improving soil
and water quality, reducing wildfire risk, and
otherwise managing forests to be more resilient in the
fact of climate change. The Administration is working
to identify new approaches to protect and restore our
forests, as well as other critical landscapes
including grasslands and wetlands, in the face of a
changing climate.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California ReLeaf
Defenders of Wildlife
Forests Forever
Pacific Forest Trust
Planning and Conservation League
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The Trust for Public Land
Wholly H20
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Mario DeBernardo / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092