BILL ANALYSIS �
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 904|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 904
Author: Chesbro (D)
Amended: 9/3/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/25/13
AYES: Pavley, Cannella, Evans, Fuller, Hueso, Lara, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Jackson, Monning
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 8/30/13
AYES: De Le�n, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 71-2, 5/29/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Forest practices: working forest management plans
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill creates a working forest management plan
(WFMP) for non-industrial timberland owners with less than
15,000 acres, which allows for limited timber harvesting without
a timber harvest plan (THP).
ANALYSIS : Existing law prohibits, under The Z'berg-Nejedly
Forest Practice Act of 1973, a person from conducting timber
operations on timberland unless a timber harvesting plan has
been prepared by a registered professional forester and has been
submitted to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
(CalFire) and approved by the Director of Forestry and Fire
Protection (Director) or the State Board of Forestry and Fire
CONTINUED
AB 904
Page
2
Protection (Board).
This bill:
1.Allows 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. 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.
Authorizes the Board to include other criteria in its
regulations.
2.Establishes 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 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 will be required to respond in writing to comments
received from public agencies as well as the public. Creates
a process to appeal CalFire's rejection of a plan to the
Board.
3.Requires, under an approved WFMP, the landowner to file a
ministerial working forest harvest notice with CalFire when a
harvest is planned. Establishes the minimum content of the
notice include information regarding discovery of state or
federally listed species, erosion control mitigation measures
and certification by a registered professional forester.
Authorizes the Board to adopt regulations that require
additional information.
4.Requires CalFire, to review an approved WFMP's administrative
record every five years in conjunction with the reviewing
CONTINUED
AB 904
Page
3
agencies. A field inspection may be conducted as part of this
review. Requires the Board to adopt regulations that require
the development of a plan summary before each review, and be
made available to the public on CalFire's Internet Web site.
5.Allows for the landowner to submit a proposed amendment to an
approved WFMP to CalFire for approval. Requires the Board to
specify in regulations, nonsubstantial deviations from the
WFMP that can be taken by reporting instead of an amendment.
6.Authorizes the Board to take disciplinary action against a
registered professional forester who made a material
misstatement in the preparation of a WFMP or notice of
harvest.
7.Specifies procedures to cancel the WFMP as well as to transfer
the WFMP to a subsequent landowner. Requires CalFire 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.
8.Requires the Board to adopt regulations that allow the
transfer of a non-industrial timber management plan (NTMP)
into a WFMP. A landowner with a WFMP may also request a safe
harbor agreement from the Department of Fish and Wildlife
(DFW). DFW's costs incurred in reviewing this request must be
paid from the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund.
9.Exempts the Southern Subdistrict of the Coast Forest District
from the WFMP.
Background
Existing law authorizes "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 (even aged
management), and (2) that the plans last indefinitely and
generally remain subject to the Forest Practice Rules and
statutes that were in effect at the time the NTMP was approved.
Operations pursuant to a NTMP are authorized by a notice, valid
for one year that is approved ministerially.
This approach contrasts with other timber harvest permitting
CONTINUED
AB 904
Page
4
mechanisms which may be used by other, often industrial, timber
landowners. These other approaches may not prohibit the use of
clearcutting (assuming compliance with all other regulatory
requirements) and new permits must comply with new regulations
or new statutes. Additionally, operations are approved through
a discretionary approval.
The regulatory agency for timber harvesting is CalFire. The
Board is generally responsible for the development of
forestry-related regulations that CalFire implements.
There have been 763 NTMPs approved by CalFire covering a
combined area of 315,000 acres according to a finding in the
bill.
According to a separate analysis by the Pacific Forest Trust, of
the 763 approved NTMPs, the average size of a NTMP is 400 acres,
a number skewed by the fact that more than half (413) are less
than 200 acres. By acreage, 27% of the NTMPs come from plans of
less than 500 acres which is included in the 50% or so of the
plans that are less than 1,000 acres. About 93 plans are
greater than 1,000 acres.
CalFire estimates that 80 of these 81 landowners own between
2,500 and 10,000 acres, although the sponsors believe CalFire
data is incomplete and that there could be more landowners in
the 10,000-15,000 acre range.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
One-time costs of at least $150,000 from the Timber Regulation
and Forest Restoration Fund (General) to the 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
CONTINUED
AB 904
Page
5
$600,000 to $950,000 in FY 2018-19, from the Timber Regulation
and Forest Restoration Fund to CalFire, DFW, the RWQCBs, and
Department of Conservation for the approval, then ongoing
review, of WFMPs. This cost will at least be partially offset
by a decrease in THPs submitted.
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/3/13)
Association of California Loggers
Association of Consulting Foresters of America
Buckeye Conservancy
California Council of Land Trusts
California Farm Bureau Federation
California Licensed Foresters Association
City of Arcata
Forest Landowners of California
Gualala River Watershed Council
Land Trust of Santa Cruz County
Pacific Forest Trust
Sonoma Land Trust
The Nature Conservancy
Trust for Public Land
W.B. Beaty and Associates
OPPOSITION : (Verified 9/3/13)
California Native Plant Society
Center for Biological Diversity
Ebbetts Pass Forest Watch
Environmental Protection Information Center
Sierra Club California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, this bill is
intended to create a regulatory incentive for landowners with
less than 15,000 acres to commit to uneven aged timber
management. The WFMP would be more stringent in some respects
than the NTMP according to the author by requiring more
stringent harvesting standards, erosion control implementation
plans, monitoring, and greater protection of late successional
(older, more complex) forests that are critical for wildlife and
other environmental attributes.
The bill is based on discussions within a working group that the
author convened 18 months ago. It has had 19 meetings in
CONTINUED
AB 904
Page
6
Sacramento and elsewhere to discuss NTMP program improvements.
The joint letter from the California Licensed Foresters
Association, the Buckeye Conservancy, and the Forest Landowners
of California states that the deficiency in the current NTMP is
that landowners from 2,500-15,000 acres are not able to
participate. They argue that the more rigorous standards in the
bill, the increased monitoring, and the "no net loss" policy for
late seral forests are public benefits that the bill would
provide.
W.B. Beaty and Associates, a timber management company from
Redding, states that the bill would increase the forest land
acreage managed without clearcutting, would reduce conversions
of timberland to other uses, and would result in greater
environmental benefits than other forms of timber harvest.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The opposition to the bill (Sierra
Club, Center for Biological Diversity, Central Coast Forest
Watch, California Native Plant Society, Environmental Protection
Information Center, and others), raise numerous issues.
They are concerned that the proposed acreage increase is
too much and would result in the approval of plans without
adequate agency review or without improving deficiencies in
current forest practices. A partial list would include:
(1) they want the current NTMP program to be phased out
while grandfathering in current, approved plans, so that
all future small landowner plans would be in the WFMP
program; (2) they are asking for specific standards for
late seral habitat and older forests, not just qualitative
language; (3) they want a mechanism in the bill to retain
more trees on the landscape; and (4) they want more
rigorous language on erosion control to include road
management, a significant source of sediment in rivers and
streams.
This coalition also strongly opposes inclusion of the
southern subdistrict (Santa Cruz, San Mateo, and Santa
Clara counties) in this bill based on the fact that this
area of the state is much more urbanized and long-term
plans will not provide adequate opportunity for the public
to know about proposed logging. For that reason, they
strongly oppose the "smaller WFMP" proposal as well. They
CONTINUED
AB 904
Page
7
point out that existing rules in this region prohibit
clearcutting so that the same benefits that the author is
promoting for other regions of the state would not apply.
Also, the San Lorenzo Valley Water District and Chemeketa Park
Mutual Water Company are concerned that logging in these
counties will adversely affect public water supplies.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 71-2, 5/29/13
AYES: Achadjian, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway,
Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gorell, Gray,
Grove, Hagman, Hall, Roger Hern�ndez, Jones, Jones-Sawyer,
Levine, Linder, Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez,
Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande,
Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk,
Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Ting, Wagner,
Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A.
P�rez
NOES: Harkey, Stone
NO VOTE RECORDED: Alejo, Fong, Gonzalez, Gordon, Holden,
Lowenthal, Vacancy
RM:ej 9/3/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****
CONTINUED