BILL ANALYSIS �
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| SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER |
| Senator Fran Pavley, Chair |
| 2011-2012 Regular Session |
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BILL NO: AB 380 HEARING DATE: June 28, 2011
AUTHOR: Chesbro URGENCY: No
VERSION: June 22, 2011 CONSULTANT: Bill Craven
DUAL REFERRAL: No FISCAL: Yes
SUBJECT: Resources: watersheds.
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
1. The California Board of Forestry (Board) and the California
Department of Forestry (CDF) are required to adopt rules that
implement state laws governing timber harvesting. These
agencies' duty also includes preventing unreasonable effects of
timber operations on the beneficial uses of waters. As part of
a rule-making procedure completed in 2009, the Board and CDF
have additional responsibilities to protect and restore the
riparian zone in watersheds with listed anadromous salmonids.
These rules must address effects from:
a) Construction of logging roads and tractor
trail stream crossings;
b) Damage to streamside vegetation and streambeds
from skidding or hauling logs
across streams, operating heavy equipment in
streambeds, and constructing log
landings; and
c) Slash, debris, or fill that may be discharged
into streams, and erosion.
2. Section 916.9 of the California Code of Regulations requires
the Board and the CDF to implement two timber harvest plan pilot
projects using site-specific or non-standard operational
measures to minimize cumulative and planning impacts of timber
harvesting on watersheds. CDF must recommend guidelines to the
Board for adoption by June 30, 2011.
PROPOSED LAW
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1. This bill would require the Board and CDF, when implementing
a pilot project and developing guidelines required by
regulations for protection and restoration of salmon habitat and
listed
salmonid species, to do all of the following:
a) Provide industry, agencies and the public with
opportunity to participate in a transparent manner.
b) Develop guidelines for evaluating and addressing
cumulative effects on a watershed scale.
c) Require the spatial scale of the cumulative effects
analysis to be consistent with site-specific and cumulative
impacts of the project in the watershed.
d) Require the use of reproducible, quantitative methods
of evaluation.
e) Document conclusions and recommendations.
f) Require an evaluation by a person or entity with
relevant training and experience.
g) Consult with and seek comment from the Department of
Fish and Game (DFG) and appropriate scientific experts to
develop guidelines that are feasible, enforceable and
protective of the public trust.
2. The bill would define the primary goal of the pilot projects
as protecting and contributing to the restoration of properly
functioning salmonid habitats and listed salmonid species.
3. The bill would authorize a pilot project to have one or more
of the following additional goals:
a) Restore fisheries and wildlife
b) Reduce risk of wildfire
c) Recover forest characteristics which produce
high-quality timber
d) Reduce sedimentation and soil loss
e) Achieve long-term carbon sequestration
f) Restore and recover unique attributes of a watershed
4. The bill would also require a pilot project to be consistent
with state and federal mandates governing coho salmon recovery
and restoration of impaired water bodies, and the joint policy
of DFG and the Board. It further provides that funding and
personnel for pilot projects shall come from existing department
and agency budgets and personnel, with additional funding to be
sought from private and public sources including educational
institutions.
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5. For public information purposes, the bill would require that
all documents that form the basis of the pilot project be posted
on the CDF website. The bill further requires the Board or a
technical advisory committee to develop recommendations and
regulations for providing electronic public access to all
relevant documents that assist CDF in administering timber
harvest regulations on a planning watershed scale.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
The author is concerned that the general language about pilot
projects that is in the Board's regulations is too general and
does not provide enough direction. To ensure the guidelines
resulting from the pilot projects are developed appropriately,
this bill specifically requires that cumulative impacts be
adequately addressed, reproducible methods of evaluation be
used, conclusions and recommendations are documented, and that
an evaluation by a trained and experienced person occurs.
According to the sponsor, Forests Forever, these requirements
will provide valuable guidance for future timber operations
utilizing site specific plans and considering cumulative
effects.
The author indicates this bill will provide the basis for
reforming the cumulative effects evaluation process on
California's private and state forestlands. AB 380 would help
accomplish this by requiring CDF, through timber harvest plan
pilot projects required by regulations adopted under subdivision
(f) of Public Resources Code � 4562.7, to follow certain
procedures that incorporate credible experts and representatives
of industry, landowners, agencies, and the public to arrive at a
process, and produce guidelines that will help to ensure that
California's private and state forestland health (including
economic and social aspects) are improved and restored for the
long-term.
Forests Forever (sponsor) and Sierra Club California support the
bill because of the improvements in the cumulative effects
analysis of timber operations that these organizations hope will
result from these pilot projects.
Associated California Loggers supports the collaborative nature
of the watershed projects that the bill would require. The
California Licensed Foresters Association supports the
transparency provisions of the information developed by the
pilot projects.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION
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None received
COMMENTS
The latest amendments inadvertently created a small number of
grammatical and technical amendments that should be made in
Appropriations. Staff will work with the author and the
Appropriations Committee staff on these.
SUPPORT
Forests Forever
Sierra Club California
California Licensed Foresters Association
Associated California Loggers
OPPOSITION
None Received
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