BILL ANALYSIS �
AJR 24
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AJR 24 (Dahle)
As Introduced June 3, 2013
Majority vote
NATURAL RESOURCES 9-0
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|Ayes:|Chesbro, Grove, Bigelow, | | |
| |Garcia, Muratsuchi, | | |
| |Patterson, Skinner, | | |
| |Stone, Williams | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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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.
Specifically, this resolution :
1)Makes declarations regarding the many benefits California's
forests provide as well as the challenges and pressures they
face.
2)Recognizes the value of forests in providing critical
ecosystem services, including water supply and climate
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.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Finds and declares 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.
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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.
FISCAL EFFECT : None. This resolution is keyed non-fiscal by
the Legislative Counsel.
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
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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
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.
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Analysis Prepared by : Mario DeBernardo / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092
FN: 0001415