BILL NUMBER: AB 2478 CHAPTERED 09/12/00 CHAPTER 409 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 12, 2000 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 11, 2000 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 22, 2000 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 18, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 6, 2000 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 24, 2000 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 3, 2000 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Strom-Martin FEBRUARY 24, 2000 An act to amend Sections 4790, 4792, 4793, 4794, and 4799.01 of the Public Resources Code, relating to forest resources. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2478, Strom-Martin. Forest resources. (1) Under existing law, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is authorized to enter into agreements and make loans to improve the condition of forests. The forestry advisory program conducted by the department encourages forest resource improvements and management through a program of technical assistance and advice. This bill would change the forestry advisory program to a forestry assistance program, adding an emphasis on the financial and educational assistance aspects of the existing program. (2) Existing law requires that certain funds be allocated each year for agreements and loans devoted to forest land conservation or fish and wildlife habitat improvements projects. This bill would eliminate that requirement. (3) Existing law provides for the allocation of available funds among forest projects that produce the greatest public benefit. This bill would restrict the allocation of funding to that of the amount expended in the 1999-2000 fiscal year until the completion, review, and final approval of an updated management plan for the Jackson Demonstration State Forest. (4) This bill would revise the definition of fish and wildlife habitat improvements for purposes of the program and would make other clarifying, nonsubstantive changes. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 4790 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 4790. The Legislature finds and declares that: (a) Forest lands, while often managed to produce wood fiber for building materials and paper manufacture, also provide public benefits, including employment opportunities in both rural and urban areas, renewable energy, protection and enhancement of air, water, and soil resources, fish and wildlife habitat, and opportunities for aesthetic and recreational enjoyment. (b) Historically, substantial areas of forest land were not reforested or otherwise managed for optimum production of forest resources following harvest operations, wildfires, unsuccessful attempts to clear the land for other uses, or damage by insects, disease, or other natural catastrophes. As a result, an estimated five million acres of public and private forest land in the state are producing substantially less forest resources than their potential. These areas are inadequately stocked with trees or are occupied by damaged or diseased trees or species of less value for sawtimber and other forest products. Some lands also have suffered from or are threatened with depletion by soil erosion. Water quality and quantity has suffered and fish habitats have also been adversely affected. In areas where forest regeneration has occurred, the present forest stand would often produce significantly greater timber supplies if thinning or other forest improvement investments were made. (c) Future demand for timber supplies and other demands for forest resources are likely to rise substantially. Future supplies of these renewable resources are presently estimated to decline for a period and then to recover, but at a rate significantly slower than the rate of increase in demand. (d) Wood waste products and tree or shrub species not normally utilized to produce building materials can provide opportunities for an alternative means to generate electrical energy or could be converted to solid, gaseous, or liquid fuels for transport or industrial use. Future supplies of wood products not usable for building materials, and, therefore potentially available for energy production, will be increased if forest resource improvements are made. (e) The forest efficiently captures and stores solar energy. Wood products can be produced with a significantly lower energy cost than most competing substitutes. This disparity is likely to increase in the future. (f) A relatively small amount of forest land is currently being reforested, other than pursuant to the stocking requirements of the Z' berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 (Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 4511) of Part 2) applicable following timber harvesting. Obstacles to private investments in reforesting or improving forest lands include: the extraordinarily long time required for such investments to produce income; the risk of loss due to fire, insect, or disease; lack of necessary forestry expertise or knowledge of the potential benefits of improved forest resource management; the difficulty of transferring capital invested in forest resource improvements to other investment opportunities or otherwise using the funds for other needs once the initial investment has been made; and the fact that some forest resource investments, including erosion control measures, may not produce any income recognizable to the landowner. (g) Over one-half of the privately owned, commercial forest land in the state is owned by nonindustrial landowners. Forest resources that can be provided by these lands will be increasingly important in the future. Yet the owners of these lands often lack forestry expertise, economic incentive, or capital needed to make investments to increase present and future availability of forest resource benefits from their lands. (h) Investments in public and private forest land are essential if adequate future timber supplies are to be available and if the forest resource system of soil, air, water, and vegetative and animal life is to be maintained in a productive condition for the future. These investments will also lessen fire hazards and improve watershed protection following catastrophic destruction of forests and other vegetative cover by fire, wind, flood, insects, disease, and other causes. (i) Failure to make the necessary investments will lead to higher prices for increasingly scarce forest products, lower rural and urban employment in the forest products and related industries and businesses, and the loss or diminished value of soils and other forest resources. (j) Forest resource improvements made pursuant to this chapter serve a public purpose and will promote the health, welfare, and economic security of the citizens of the state. SEC. 2. Section 4792 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 4792. In furtherance of the purposes of this chapter, the department is authorized to enter into agreements and make loans and otherwise carry out the purposes of this chapter. The forestry assistance program conducted by the department shall encourage forest resource improvements and otherwise facilitate good forest land management through a program of financial, technical, and educational assistance, as well as through applied research. The purpose of this program shall be to work cooperatively with private landowners, particularly smaller nonindustrial landowners, to upgrade the management of their lands, and, therefore, improve both the productivity of the land and the degree of protection and enhancement of the forest resource system as a whole. The department is further authorized to encourage and cooperate with efforts by the forestry industry and federal government to improve the management of forest lands within the state, particularly lands owned by nonindustrial owners, through advisory services or other actions. The director shall work cooperatively with other private and public entities and persons, including tree nursery operators, when carrying out this part. SEC. 3. Section 4793 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 4793. As used in this chapter: (a) "A county with high unemployment" means a county with an annual unemployment rate, as reported by the Employment Development Department, higher than the mean annual unemployment rate of "rate adjustment counties" as defined pursuant to the Timber Yield Tax Law (Part 18.5 (commencing with Section 38101) of Division 2 of the Revenue and Taxation Code). (b) "Eligible landowner" means any person who meets the conditions set forth in Sections 4797 and 4799. Where ownership of forest land and timber is not held by the same person, "landowner" means either the person or persons owning the land or the person or persons owning the timber. (c) "Fish and wildlife habitat improvements" means measures designed to protect, maintain, or enhance fish and wildlife habitat including, but not limited to, stream clearance, reestablishment of desirable vegetation along stream channels and elsewhere, measures to encourage habitat diversity, restoration of anadromous fisheries, and forest road repair and upgrading that protect, maintain, or enhance fish and wildlife habitat. (d) "Followup work" means forest resource improvement work necessary to promote the survival of seed or seedlings planted, or protection or enhancement of other work undertaken, as part of a prior forest resource improvement project pursuant to this chapter. (e) "Forest land" means land at least 10 percent occupied by trees of any size that are native to California, including native oaks, or formerly having had that tree cover and not currently zoned for uses incompatible with forest resource management. (f) "Forest land conservation measures" means measures designed to protect, maintain, or enhance the forest resource system, including soil and watershed values, diversity of forest species, and protection of a forest stand from fire. These measures include thinning, shaded fuel breaks, and other land treatments or forest resource improvement projects consistent with Section 4794. (g) "Forest land with demonstrated potential for improved forest resource management" means forest land that could produce significantly greater forest resource benefits if forest resource improvement work was carried out and that is not managed for uses incompatible with forest resource management. (h) "Forest resources" means those uses and values associated with forest land, including fish, forage, recreation and aesthetics, soils, timber, watershed, wilderness, and wildlife. (i) "Forest resource system" means the interdependent system of air, water, solar energy, and forest resources, as defined by subdivision (h). (j) "Forest resource improvement work" means the forest resource improvement measures enumerated in Section 4794 for which assistance is authorized pursuant to this chapter. (k) "Forest resource improvement project" means a project undertaken pursuant to Section 4795 or a loan made pursuant to Section 4796. (l) "Management plan" means a long-term forest and land management plan submitted to the director pursuant to Section 4799. (m) "Person" includes: (1) Any private individual, organization, partnership, limited liability company, or corporation. (2) Except for the purposes of Section 4795 and subdivision (a) of Section 4796, any city, county, or district. (n) "Prevailing rate" means the average annual rate earned by the state on moneys deposited in the Pooled Money Investment Account in the General Fund. (o) "Reforestation" means planting of tree seedlings, cuttings, or seed. (p) "Restocked" means stocking to the degree required by the Z' berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973, Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 4511) of Part 2. (q) "Small business entity" means a business enterprise, including a landowner, with five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) or less annual gross revenue. (r) "Smaller nonindustrial landowners" means owners of 5,000 acres or less of forest land. (s) "Uses incompatible with forest resource management" means uses not listed in subdivision (h) of Section 51104 or Section 51111 of the Government Code by the city or county in which the parcel subject to a forest resource improvement project lies. (t) "Young growth stand improvement" means precommercial thinning or weeding of young growth stands to provide more growing space and release of young trees from competing vegetation. SEC. 4. Section 4794 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 4794. (a) Agreements may be entered into and loans may be made by the director pursuant to this chapter for all of the following purposes: (1) Preparation of management plans for forest land. (2) Site preparation. (3) Planting and costs of seeds and seedlings. (4) Young growth stand improvement. (5) Forest land conservation measures. (6) Fish and wildlife habitat improvement. (7) Followup work. Consistent with this section, the director shall prepare, and submit to the board for its review and approval, guidelines further specifying the scope of forest resource improvement work for which agreements may be entered into or loans made pursuant to this chapter. (b) Proposed forest resource improvement projects may combine work described in paragraphs (1) to (7), inclusive, of subdivision (a). Projects shall include work described in paragraphs (1) to (7), inclusive, of subdivision (a) to be eligible for a cost-sharing agreement signed pursuant to Section 4795 or a loan made pursuant to Section 4796. (c) Projects for forest resource improvement subsequent to harvesting subject to the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973, Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 4511) of Part 2, shall not be eligible for agreements executed pursuant to Section 4795 or loans made pursuant to Section 4796 of this chapter unless either of the following occur: (1) The land has been restocked and the established forest growth has subsequently been adversely affected by fire, wind, flood, insects, disease, or other natural causes. (2) The work to be undertaken is not otherwise required to be carried out pursuant to the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973, Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 4511) of Part 2. SEC. 5. Section 4799.01 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 4799.01. (a) When allocating available funds among projects proposed pursuant to this chapter, the director shall select those projects that, in the judgment of the director, produce the greatest public benefit, giving consideration to both of the following factors: (1) The need for and potential benefits of forest resource establishment or improvement were the project to be undertaken. (2) The need for and potential benefits to long-term production, maintenance, and enhancement of the forest resource system resulting from forest land conservation measures, fish and wildlife habitat improvements, or other work. (b) The director shall give increased preference to projects to the extent that the project applies to forest land that has been substantially damaged by fire, flood, insects, disease, or other natural causes within 36 months of submission of an application pursuant to this chapter. (c) The director shall also give preference to projects to the extent that each of the following factors are present: (1) The project involves a substantial amount of followup work. (2) The project or other actions of the landowner would increase recreational opportunities for the public. (3) The forest land to which the project applies is equivalent to site quality III or better. (4) The project would provide relatively more employment opportunities than other proposed projects. (5) The project is located in a county with high unemployment. (6) A small business entity will carry out the proposed project. (d) Consistent with the criteria set forth in subdivisions (a), (b), and (c), the director shall prepare and submit to the board proposed guidelines further specifying the criteria for evaluation and approval of forest resource improvement projects. The board shall review, approve, or amend the guidelines that the director shall follow when carrying out this chapter. (e) The director shall establish, in consultation with interested persons or agencies and with the review and approval of the board, procedures for the review of proposed forest resource improvement projects. Those procedures shall insure that department specialists and other specialists in the areas of water quality, erosion control, and fish and wildlife protection are integrated into the review of proposed forest resource improvement projects. (f) No allocation of funds pursuant to this chapter shall, in any fiscal year, exceed the total amount expended during the 1999-2000 fiscal year until the completion, review, and final approval by the board of an updated management plan for the Jackson Demonstration State Forest that complies with applicable state and federal law.