BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
AB 904 (Chesbro) - Forest practices: working forest management
plans.
Amended: August 13, 2013 Policy Vote: NR&W 7-0
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes (see staff
comments)
Hearing Date: August 19, 2013 Consultant:
Marie Liu
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 904 would create a working forest management
plan (WFMP) for non-industrial timberland owners with less than
15,000 acres, which would allow for limited timber harvesting
without a timber harvest plan (THP).
Fiscal Impact:
One-time costs of at least $150,000 from the Timber
Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund (General) to the
Board of Forestry (board) for the development of regulations
as required by this bill.
One-time costs of approximately $75,000 from the Timber
Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund to the regional water
quality control boards (RWQCBs) for adoption and revision of
general waste discharge requirements.
Assuming five WFMPs are submitted each year, annual costs
of approximately $500,000 - $750,000 in FY 2014-15 and
growing to $600,000 to $950,000 in FY 2018-19, from the
Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund to Department
of Forestry and Fire (CalFire), Department of Fish and
Wildlife (DFW), the RWQCBs, and Department of Conservation
(DOC) for the approval, then ongoing review, of WFMPs. This
cost will at least be partially offset by a decrease in THPs
submitted.
Background: Existing law authorizes non-industrial timber
management plans (NTMPs) for landowners who have fewer than
2,500 acres of timberland. Two of the basic considerations
embedded in NTMPs are (1) a ban on clearcutting or even aged
management), and (2) that the plans last indefinitely and
generally remain subject to the Forest Practices Rules and
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statutes that were effect at the time the NTMP was approved.
AB 1492 (Budget Committee) Chapter 289/2012 established a new
assessment on lumber products sold in California in order to
fund, among other activities, multi-agency review of permitted
Forest Practice Act activities in California. Proceeds of the
assessment are deposited in to the Timber Regulation and Forest
Restoration Fund. CalFire, DOC, DFW, State Water Resources
Control Board, and the RWQCBs (collectively referred to as the
"reviewing agencies" in this analysis) are all eligible to
receive support from the fund for their review of projects or
permits necessary to conduct timber operations.
Proposed Law: This bill would allow a timberland landowner of
less than 15,000 acres to file with CalFire a WFMP that would
allow for limited timber harvesting indefinitely without a THP.
The WFMPs must have the objective of maintaining, restoring, or
creating uneven aged managed timber stand conditions, achieving
sustained yield, and promoting forestland stewardship that
protects watersheds, fisheries and wildlife habitats. This bill
establishes minimum elements of the WFMP including a description
of the land, an inventory design and timber strand
stratification criteria, a description and discussion of methods
to be used to avoid significant sediment discharge from timber
operations, and special provisions to protect unique areas. The
board would be authorized to include other criteria in its
regulations.
This bill would establish procedures for the submission, filing,
approval, and appeal of the WFMPs. The procedures require a
minimum period for public comment, dependent on the size of the
lands under the WFMP. The procedures would also require CalFire
to submit a copy of a WFMP to the reviewing agencies, the
appropriate county planning agency, and all other agencies
having jurisdiction over natural resources affected by the WFMP.
CalFire would be required to respond in writing to comments
received from public agencies as well as the public. This bill
would also create a process to appeal CalFire's rejection of a
plan to the board.
Under an approved WFMP, the landowner must file a ministerial
working forest harvest notice with CalFire when a harvest is
planned. This bill establishes the minimum content of the notice
include information regarding discovery of state or federally
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listed species, erosion control mitigation measures and
certification by a registered professional forester. The board
may adopt regulations that require additional information.
For harvest areas within the Southern Subdistrict of the Coast
Forest District, this bill would also require a 10-day
preoperations notice to be given to certain downstream
landowners. The harvest notice could not be filed until the
preoperations notice period is completed.
CalFire would be required to review an approved WFMP's
administrative record every five years in conjunction with the
reviewing agencies. A field inspection may be conducted as part
of this review. The board would be required to adopt regulations
that require the development of a plan summary before each
review, which will be made available to the public on CalFire's
website.
This bill allows for the landowner to submit a proposed
amendment to an approved WFMP to CalFire for approval. The board
would be required to specify in regulations, nonsubstantial
deviations from the WFMP that can be taken by reporting instead
of an amendment.
Under this bill, the board may take disciplinary action against
a registered professional forester who made a material
misstatement in the preparation of a WFMP or notice of harvest.
This bill specifies procedures to cancel the plan as well as to
transfer the plan to a subsequent landowner. CalFire would be
required to cancel an approved WFMP if it determines that the
objectives of uneven aged management and sustained yield are not
being met or if there are persistent violations that are not
being corrected.
The board would be required to adopt regulations that allow the
transfer of a NTMP into a WFMP. A landowner with a WFMP may also
request a safe harbor agreement from DFW. DFW's costs incurred
in reviewing this request shall be paid from the Timber
Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund.
This bill would also require the board to adopt regulations to
create the Small Forest Unevenaged Management Plan (SFUMP) for
lands of less than 320 acres and follows the general structure
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of the NTMP. The SFUMP would be required to have restrictions
regarding the size and frequency of harvesting.
Staff Comments: This bill would require the board to develop
regulations regarding the WFMP and the SFUMP with specified
elements, including elements regarding notice of receipt of a
proposed WFMP, required contents of the WFMP, nonsubstantial
deviations that can occur without amendments to a WFMP, required
contents of the notice of harvest, the plan summary for the
five-year review, and a process to file an amendment to a WFMP.
While the board has some existing staff that can be made
available to work on these regulations, it will be at the
expense of the development of other regulations that are
necessary to comply with the board and CalFire's other
regulatory responsibilities. Staff estimates that this bill will
cause a minimum workload equivalent of $150,000 in one-time
costs to develop the necessary regulations.
The Lahontan, Central Valley, and North Coast Regional WQCBs
will also incur some one-time costs to develop or revise general
waste discharge requirements covering WFMPs. Collectively for
these three RWQCBs, staff estimates approximately $75,000 in
workload will be necessary.
CalFire and the reviewing agencies will all incur costs in the
review of a WFMP application, the review of harvest notices, and
the five-year review of approved a WFMP. The costs to the
agencies depend on the number of plans submitted and approved as
well as the complexity of those plans. According to CalFire, 81
landowners have forestland acreage between 2500 and 15,000 acres
(although there is some dispute by interested parties on the
accuracy of CalFire's figure). It is unknown how many of these
landowners will ultimately decide to file for a WFMP and when.
Based on a February 2013 report from the Natural Resources
Agency and CalEPA that was required by AB 1492, the Resources
Agency, CalFire, DFW, SWRCB, and DOC collectively need
approximately $25 million annually and 193 positions to review
all discretionary harvest permits (THPs, NTMPs, etc.) received
each year. The actual cost to review each THP can vary greatly
depending on factors such as the quality of the THP submitted,
the size of the plan, and the complexity of the plan. Based on
the number of permits submitted in 2011-12, staff estimates that
the average cost of reviewing a TPH is in the high tens of
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thousands.
Staff assumes the workload involved in reviewing and approving a
WFMP will be 25-50% higher than a THP as WFMP allows harvesting
indefinitely. Assuming five plans are submitted annually, this
bill will likely result in costs to the reviewing agencies in
the range of the mid to high hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Once a WFMP is approved, the reviewing agencies will incur
ongoing costs to review harvest notices and to conduct the
five-year review. Each WFMP is likely to result in costs
collectively across the review agencies of a couple of thousands
of dollars annually. Continuing with the assumption of five
WFMPs submitted annually, at the end of a five year period,
there will be review costs in the low hundreds of thousands of
dollars.
Staff notes that aside from the initial costs of regulatory
development for the WFMP program, the initial and ongoing costs
caused by this bill may be at least partially offset by a
decrease in THPs, depending on the extent that a WFMP supplants
the submission of THPs. The extent to which a WFMP supplants THP
submission is speculative.
This bill changes the definition of a crime, which is a
non-reimbursable state mandate.