BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2082
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2082 (Dahle, et al.)
As Amended June 16, 2014
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |73-0 |(May 8, 2014) |SENATE: |35-0 |(July 3, 2014) |
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Original Committee Reference: NAT. RES.
SUMMARY : Authorizes the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection
(Board) to adopt alternative post-timber harvesting stocking
standards related to point count if those standards are
necessary to address variables in forest characteristics and
achieve suitable resource conservation.
The Senate amendments narrow this bill to only authorize the
Board to adopt alternative post-timber harvesting stocking
standards related to point count, not average residual basal
area.
EXISTING LAW , pursuant to the Z'Berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act
of 1973 (FPA):
1)Requires the 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.
2)Requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection 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 harvest plans
(THPs), Nonindustrial Timber Management Plans, Program Timber
Harvesting Plans, and other types of plans related to timber
operations on private lands in California.
3)Within five years after completion of timber operations,
requires either of the following minimum stocking standards
for an area covered by a THP:
a) An average point count of 300 per acre, except for site
IV classification or lower (i.e., sites with the lowest
AB 2082
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productivity potential), which shall have an average point
count of 150 per acre. (The point count of a tree is
determined by tree size. For example, a tree that is less
than four inches in diameter at breast height counts as one
point. A tree over 12 inches in diameter counts as six
points.); or
b) An average residual basal area (i.e., the sum of tree
diameter for an acre) of at least 85 square feet per acre,
except for site II classification (i.e., sites with
intermediate productivity potential) or lower, which shall
have the minimum average residual basal area of 50 square
feet per acre.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible costs.
COMMENTS : The existing stocking standards in the FPA are very
prescriptive and have not been updated since the FPA was created
in 1973. The purpose of these stocking standards is to ensure
that land continues to be adequately maintained as forest lands
after timber harvesting occurs. However, since 1973, factors
such as seedling survival rates have dramatically changed. In
the early 1970s, there was a seedling survival rate of 40 to
50%. Since the late 1980s, as a result of better nursery stock,
improved nursery handling and storage standards, and refined
handling and planting procedures carried out by foresters,
landowners, and planting crews, the expected seedling survival
has been between 90 and 95% when trees are planted in the right
environmental and physical conditions.
The increase in seedling survival rate coupled with the current
stocking standards has led to elevated tree densities. As such,
forest managers often have to conduct subsequent thinning
operations to adjust stocking levels to achieve normal growth
and yield rates, and to address the increased risk of intense
wildfires.
With periodic droughts and other climactic challenges to growing
a sustainable, healthy forest, it seems appropriate to allow the
Board, which has the expertise and resources, to make
adjustments, as necessary, to the existing stocking standards.
Analysis Prepared by : Mario DeBernardo / NAT. RES. / (916)
AB 2082
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319-2092
FN: 0004266