BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 744|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 744
Author: Dahle (R) and Gordon (D), et al.
Amended: 9/12/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
PRIOR VOTES NOT RELEVANT
SENATE NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER COMMITTEE : 5-1, 9/11/13
AYES: Pavley, Cannella, Fuller, Hueso, Wolk
NOES: Jackson
NO VOTE RECORDED: Evans, Lara, Monning
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 9/12/13
AYES: De León, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
SUBJECT : Timber harvesting plans: exempt activities
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill expands, for five years, the timber harvest
plan (THP) exemption for fuel reduction by increasing the size
of the tree that can be cut to 24 inches in stump diameter to
assist in fuel hazard reduction throughout specific areas in
Northern California.
ANALYSIS : Under the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of
1973(Act) prohibits a person from conducting timber operations
unless a timber harvesting plan prepared by a registered
professional forester has been submitted to the Department of
Forestry and Fire Protection (Department). The Act authorizes
CONTINUED
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the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to exempt from
those provisions of the act a person engaging in specified
forest management activities, including, the harvesting of
trees, limited to those trees that eliminate the vertical
continuity of vegetative fuels and the horizontal continuity of
tree crowns, for the purpose of reducing the rate of fire
spread, duration and intensity, fuel ignitability, or ignition
of tree crowns if the tree harvesting will decrease fuel
continuity and increase the quadratic mean diameter of the
stand, and the tree harvesting area will not exceed 300 acres.
Provides that the notice of exemption issued for this exemption,
known as the Forest Fire Prevention Exemption (Exemption), may
be authorized only if certain conditions are met, including that
only trees less than 18 inches in stump diameter, measured at
eight inches above ground level, may be removed, as provided.
This bill:
1. Provides three years after the effective date of regulations
adopted by the State Board of Forestry and Forest Protection,
that an additional notice of exemption, known as the Forest
Fire Prevention Pilot Project Exemption (Pilot Project
Exemption), may be authorized if certain conditions are met,
including, among others, that only trees less than 24 inches
in stump diameter, measured at eight inches above ground
level, may be removed, as provided. Provides that this bill
is expressly limited to the Sierra Nevada Region, as well as
Modoc, Siskiyou and Trinity counties.
2. Requires the Department maintain records regarding the use of
the Pilot Project Exemption in order to evaluate the impact
of the exemption on fuel reduction and natural resources in
areas where the exemption has been used
3. States that it is the intent of the Legislature to establish
a five-year pilot project to assess whether increasing the
diameter of trees that may be removed pursuant to the
existing Exemption in the Act, can reduce the risk of
catastrophic fire that threatens many communities in the
Sierra Nevada while improving the economic use of this
exemption for landowners. It is further the intent of the
Legislature that the Department maintains adequate records to
evaluate this pilot project. It is also the intent of the
Legislature that those using this exemption consider the
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appropriate use of the California Conservation Corps, local
conservation corps, and properly supervised inmate fire crews
in implementing activities pursuant to this pilot project.
4. States that it is the intent of the Legislature that the
Natural Resources Agency develops a forest restoration and
fuels reduction program that utilizes an interagency process
to develop regionally appropriate and cost-effective forest
restoration prescriptions and permits.
Background
The Legislature enacted the Exemption to the THP (AB 2420, La
Malfa, Chapter 712, Statutes of 2004) to help landowners thin
their forests to reduce the threat of catastrophic fire.
Existing law allows for trees up to 18 inches in diameter and in
some circumstances, 24 inches, to be removed without having to
file a THP.
Since its passage, the program has been greatly underutilized
despite the intent of the Legislature to increase it. Since
this point an average of about 800 acres are thinned annually,
all throughout the state of California.
With forest fires raging out of control in California right now,
there is a need for a solution find a way for private land
owners to manage their forests and lower the threat of
additional catastrophic wildfire.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
RM:d 9/12/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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