BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2082
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 7, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Wesley Chesbro, Chair
AB 2082 (Dahle) - As Introduced: February 20, 2014
SUBJECT : Forest practices: resource conservation standards:
stocking standards
SUMMARY : Authorizes the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection
(Board) to adopt alternative post-timber harvesting stocking
standards if those standards are necessary to address variables
in forest characteristics.
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 (CAL
FIRE) 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 (NTMPs),
Program Timber Harvesting Plans (PTHPs), 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
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
AB 2082
Page 2
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 : Unknown
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
percent. 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 percent 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.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Cattlemen's Association
California Licensed Foresters Association
Northern California Society of American Foresters
Pacific Forest Trust
Plumas County Economic Recovery Committee
Sustainable Forest Action Coalition
AB 2082
Page 3
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Mario DeBernardo / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092