BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 875
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Date of Hearing: April 29, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Wesley Chesbro, Chair
AB 875 (Chesbro) - As Amended: April 22, 2013
SUBJECT : Forest management
SUMMARY : Requires two watershed pilot projects with the primary
goal of improving the state's collection, organization,
management, use, and distribution of vital forestry-related
information. For funding of existing restoration grant programs
under AB 1492 (Blumenfield, 2012), gives priority to an existing
grant program for coastal salmon and steelhead fishery
protection and restoration projects.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Pursuant to the Z'Berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973
(FPA):
a) Declares that it is the policy of the 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 in current and future generations alike.
b) Requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection
(Board) to adopt rules and regulations (Forest Practice
Rules or FPR) to assure the continuous growing and
harvesting of commercial forest tree species and to protect
the soil, air, fish and wildlife, and water resources,
including but not limited to, streams lakes and estuaries.
The Board is required to ensure that the FPR, where
applicable, consider the capacity of forest resources to
sequester carbon dioxide emissions sufficient to meet or
exceed the state's greenhouse gas reduction requirements
for the forestry sector.
c) Requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
(CALFIRE) to oversee the FPA and the FPR in consultation
with other public agencies and the interested public. The
FPA and FPR specifically govern, among other things, timber
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harvest plans (THPs), Nonindustrial Timber Management Plans
(NTMPs), Program Timber Harvesting Plans (PTHPs), and other
types of plans related to timber operations on private
lands in California.
d) Requires the CALFIRE to establish interdisciplinary
review teams to review timber operation plans to assist in
the evaluation of the plans and their impacts on the
environment. In general, each review team, when possible,
shall consist of a representative from (a) CALFIRE, (b) the
appropriate California Regional Water Quality Control
Board, (c) the Department of Fish and Wildlife, (d) the
Department of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology,
(e) a representative of county government (when the county
government so requests), (f) the California Coastal
Commission (for plans in the coastal zone), (g) the
California Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (for plans in the
Tahoe Basin), and (h) the Department of Parks and
Recreation (for plans that may affect values in publicly
owned parks).
e) Preserves the power of any state agency (such as a
Regional Water Quality Control Board or Department of Fish
and Wildlife) in the enforcement or administration of any
provision of law (such as the Porter-Cologne Water Quality
Control Act or Fish and Game Code Section 1600 et seq.)
that is specifically authorized or required to be enforce
or administer.
2)Pursuant to AB 1492 (Blumenfield, 2012):
a) Establishes a one percent assessment on lumber products
sold in the state. The primary purpose of this assessment
is to ensure sustainable funding for the state's forest
practice program. In addition, AB 1492 allows a portion of
the additional revenues from the lumber assessment to go
toward "existing restoration grant programs."
b) Requires the state to assess efficiencies in the forest
practice program and the effectiveness of spending by
developing a set of measures for, and a plan for collection
of data on, the program that, among other things, includes
evaluation of ecological performance.
3)Pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), a
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THP or other plan required under the FPA or FPR may be
submitted in lieu of an environmental impact report if the
Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency finds that the plan
is in compliance with standards in CEQA. The Secretary of the
Natural Resources Agency has made such findings.
THIS BILL :
1)Pilot Projects. Requires two watershed pilot projects with
the primary goal of improving the state's collection,
organization, management, use, and distribution of vital
forestry-related information.
a) Pilot Project Assessment Team.
i) By July 1, 2014, requires the Secretary of the
Natural Resources Agency and the Secretary for
Environmental Protection, in consultation with the
state's timber harvest plan review agencies, relevant
federal agencies, and qualified stakeholders from the
timber industry and environmental and science
communities, to select a pilot project assessment team to
undertake two watershed pilot projects with the primary
goal of improving the state's collection, organization,
management, use, and distribution of vital
forestry-related information.
ii) Before selecting the pilot project assessment team,
requires the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency
and the Secretary for Environmental Protection to hold at
least one public meeting to discuss the assessment team
selection process and the general manner in which the
team will approach the projects. This meeting shall occur
at a special session hearing of the Board.
iii) Requires the pilot project assessment team to
include all of the following:
(1) Two representatives from each state agency
that is regularly involved in the timber harvest
review process. If feasible, each agency shall have
representatives who, collectively, have expertise in
the sciences and art of cumulative impacts and the
collection and organization of data;
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(2) If available, qualified representatives from
federal agencies involved in forestry issues;
(3) Two qualified representatives from the
environmental community;
(4) Two qualified representatives from the timber
industry;
(5) Two registered professional foresters, one of
whom shall have experience with preparing harvest
plans for landowners who are not primarily engaged in
the manufacture of forest products;
(6) Two scientists, including, but not limited to,
qualified fisheries and wildlife biologists; and
(7) Two individuals from the watershed restoration
practitioners community.
iv) For each group of representatives, requires there to
be one person who has experience with forestry issues in
the Coast Forest District and one person who has
experience with forestry issues in the Northern Forest
District.
v) Authorizes the Board to reimburse members of the
pilot project assessment team for their actual and
necessary expenses incurred in the performance of
official business related to the pilot projects. Members
of the pilot project assessment team shall not receive
more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) in any fiscal
year. A public employee whose participation is
consistent with his or her job description is not
entitled to reimbursement.
b) Pilot Project Scope.
i) By July 1, 2015, requires the pilot project
assessment team to undertake two pilot projects, one in a
Coast Forest District watershed containing Central
California Coast Coho Salmon and one in a Northern Forest
District watershed in the Sierra Nevada, with the primary
goal of improving the state's collection, organization,
management, use, and distribution of vital
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forestry-related information.
ii) Requires the pilot project to accomplish all of the
following:
(1) Make the evaluation and response to cumulative
impacts credible and effective;
(2) Enable restoration measures to be identified
for listed anadromous salmonids, other wildlife,
watersheds, and forest health issues; and
(3) Determine appropriate and effective
post-harvest monitoring procedures and standards.
iii) Requires the pilot projects to have a focus on (1)
developing efficiencies and cost savings for state
agencies and landowners and (2) improving the evaluation
of ecological performance. The pilot project assessment
team may use the State of Washington's Watershed Analysis
Manual, the Methods Manual developed by the State of
California's North Coast Watershed Assessment Program,
the Recovery Strategy for California Coho Salmon, the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
fisheries' recovery plans for California evolutionarily
significant units, the State Wildlife Action Plan, and
other pertinent reports, programs, and documents as
guidance to the extent that they do not conflict with
this article.
iv) Requires the pilot projects to take place on a
CalWater Planning Watershed level. The pilot project
assessment team shall select watersheds that (1) are
representative of both private and public trust values
and (2) will produce analyses that are transferable to
other watersheds.
v) Requires the pilot projects to establish, to the
extent feasible, templates, consistent symbology, uniform
mapping requirements, and other requirements to bring
information together (1) in a publically accessible
electronic database and (2) in a manner that meets the
basic needs of all stakeholders to make decisions on
environmental conditions and impacts.
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vi) By January 1, 2015, requires the pilot project
assessment team to develop a draft plan explaining the
scope and process of the pilot projects and hold at least
one public hearing to discuss the draft plan and take
public comment.
vii) Requires the pilot projects to conclude on July 1,
2017.
c) Pilot Project Findings, Conclusions, and
Recommendations.
i) By January 1, 2018, requires the pilot project
assessment team to complete a draft report of its
findings, conclusions, and recommendations and hold at
least one public meeting to discuss the draft report and
take public comment. This public meeting shall occur at
a special session hearing of the Board.
ii) Requires the pilot project assessment team's
recommendations to include all of the following:
(a) Measures to develop a centralized database
system that will meet the goals and focus described
in the "Pilot Project Scope" section described
above;
(b) Guidance on how to incorporate the
centralized database system into processes that will
meet the goals described in the "Pilot Project
Scope" section described above; and
(c) Identification of any impediments to
implementing these recommendations.
iii) By July 1, 2018, requires the pilot project
assessment team to have completed the final report of its
findings, conclusions, and recommendations and hold a
public meeting, no later than September 1, 2018, to
discuss the final report. Prior to a public meeting, the
pilot project assessment team shall, at a minimum, make
its report and any supporting documents available to the
public through the department's Internet Web site.
iv) No later than August 1, 2018, requires the pilot
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project assessment team to deliver copies of the final
report to the Legislature.
2)Restoration Grant Funding. For funding of existing
restoration grant programs under AB 1492, gives priority to
the existing grant program operated by the fisheries
management program of the Department of Fish and Wildlife for
coastal salmon and steelhead fishery protection and
restoration projects.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Background and Purpose of the Bill. Last year, the
Legislature passed AB 1492, a landmark bill for the state's
timber harvest program and forest environment.
AB 1492 established a one percent assessment on lumber
products sold in the state. The primary purpose of this
assessment is to ensure sustainable funding for the state's
forest practice program. In addition, AB 1492 allows a
portion of the additional revenues from the lumber assessment
to go toward "existing restoration grant programs."
This bill specifies that in funding "existing restoration
grant programs," priority shall be given to the Department of
Fish and Wildlife's Fisheries Restoration Grant Program
(FRGP), which is a successful grant program with low
administrative costs that was established in response to
rapidly declining populations of wild salmon and steelhead
trout and deteriorating fish habitat in California. There is
a significant nexus between forestry and the health of fish
habitat, which is why it is appropriate to utilize AB 1492
funds for the FRGP.
AB 1492 also requires the state to assess efficiencies in the
forest practice program and the effectiveness of spending by
developing a set of measures for, and a plan for collection of
data on, the program that, among other things, includes
evaluation of ecological performance.
The state and federal governments, as well as landowners and
forest restoration professionals, maintain and use various
databases that are disconnected from each other and do not
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contain uniform symbology, mapping standards, etc. If this
information was centralized and standards were set for making
the various forms of information compatible with each other,
there could be serious advances in cumulative effects
analysis, forest restoration, and post harvesting monitoring.
These advances would create cost savings to all stakeholders,
efficiencies in the regulatory review process, and help better
evaluate ecological performances, which are all goals of AB
1492.
This bill establishes pilot projects that will determine ways
to centralize vital forestry data and standardize information.
The pilot projects will then inform the state on how to
develop a centralized forest database that will help (1) make
the evaluation and response to cumulative impacts credible and
effective; (2) enable restoration measures to be identified
for listed anadromous salmonids, other wildlife, watersheds,
and forest health issues; and (3) determine appropriate and
effective post-harvest monitoring procedures and standards.
2)A Multi-Stakeholder Process. In December 2011, a
multi-stakeholder timber harvest working group was convened to
discuss various ways to address timber harvesting issues in
the state. The author of this bill co-chaired the working
group. The working group, which contributed to the passage of
AB 1492, has held 18 meetings. This bill includes provisions
that were suggested by several members of the working group
representing different groups.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Trout
Forests Forever
Trout Unlimited
Opposition
Forest Products Industry National Labor Management Committee
Analysis Prepared by : Mario DeBernardo / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092
AB 875
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