BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2142
Author: Chesbro (D)
Amended: 6/17/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER COMMITTEE : 9 -0, 6/24/14
AYES: Pavley, Cannella, Evans, Fuller, Hueso, Jackson, Lara,
Monning, Wolk
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-0, 5/08/14 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : Timber harvesting plans: exemptions
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill adds Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino,
Sonoma, and Trinity Counties to the AB 744 (Dahle, Chapter 647,
Statutes of 2013) pilot program. All of the AB 744 conditions
apply to this bill.
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
1.Prohibits, under the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of
1973, a person from conducting timber operations unless a
timber harvesting plan (THP), prepared by a registered
professional forester, has been submitted to the Department of
Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF).
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2.Authorizes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to
exempt from those provisions of the Act, a person engaging in
specified forest management activities.
3.Authorizes, for a specified three-year period, an exemption,
known as the Forest Fire Prevention Pilot Project Exemption,
if certain conditions are met, including, among others, that
the activities conducted pursuant to the exemption occur in
the Sierra Nevada Region, as defined, in the County of Modoc,
Siskiyou, or Trinity, or in any combination of these areas.
This bill adds Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, and
Trinity Counties to the AB 744 pilot program. All of the AB 744
conditions apply to this bill.
Background
Current law assigns forestry regulation and timber harvest
regulation to the CDF. Generally, landowners and commercial
timber companies are prohibited from conducting timber
operations unless a THP or another similar permit has been
prepared by a registered professional forester and approved by
the CDF. The Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency has
certified that a THP is the functional equivalent of an
environmental impact report under the California Environmental
Quality Act.
There are also exemptions from the permitting process and one of
those exemptions is the Forest Fire Prevention Exemption often
referred to as the "La Malfa Exemption" for timber removal that
assists in reducing fire risk and that meets various conditions:
1.The harvesting must occur on parcels of 300 acres or less;
2.The harvesting must decrease fuel continuity (both vertically
and horizontally);
3.The harvesting must result in making the average diameter of
the trees that remain in the stand larger than the average
diameter of the trees in the stand prior to the fuel reduction
activities;
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4.A registered professional forester must prepare the notice of
exemption;
5.The level of residual stocking must be consistent with maximum
sustained production of high-quality timber products;
6.The activities must comply with the regulations that protect
archaeological sites; and
7.Only trees less than 18 inches in stump diameter, measured at
eight inches above ground level, may be removed. However,
within 500 feet of a legally permitted structure, or in an
area prioritized as a shaded fuel break in a community
wildfire protection plan approved by a public fire agency, if
the goal of fuel reduction cannot be achieved by removing
trees less than 18 inches in stump diameter, trees less than
24 inches in stump diameter may be removed if that removal is
necessary to achieve the goal of fuel reduction.
Last year, AB 744 established a three-year pilot project in
several counties in the Sierra Nevada on lands that are
co-terminous with the boundaries of the Sierra Nevada
Conservancy (with the additions of Modoc, Trinity, and Siskyou
Counties) to evaluate if an increase in the diameter of trees
that could be removed under the La Malfa exemption as well as
new, additional conditions, would improve the economic utility
of this exemption in reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire.
All activities pursuant to this exemption shall occur within the
most recent version of the CDF fire hazard severity zone map in
the moderate, high, and very high fire threat zones.
That bill expanded the diameter of trees that could be removed
from 18 to 24 inches, prohibits the use of clear-cutting,
requires that acreage reflect a net increase in the diameter of
the remaining trees, and other specified conditions.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/5/14)
California Cattlemen's Association
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California Council of Land Trusts
California Farm Bureau Federation
California Fire Safe Council
California Forestry Association
County of Humboldt
Forest Products Industry Labor Management Committee
Humboldt Redwood Company
Mendocino Redwood Company
Pacific Forest Trust
Personal Insurance Federation of California
Sonoma Land Trust
Trust for Public Lands
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The California Farm Bureau Federation
writes in support, "The Legislature recognized the importance of
simplifying forest thinning activities in its passage of AB 744
(Dahle and Gordon) in 2013, which created a pilot project to
expand opportunities for forest thinning projects.
Unfortunately this bill was limited to the Sierra Nevada region
and Modoc, Siskiyou and Trinity counties. Despite this
geographic restriction, Farm Bureau supported AB 744 as it
provided landowners in that area the ability to expand thinning
activities and reduce wildfire threats. Farm Bureau supports
the expansion to the North Coast region of the state, which will
allow CalFire [CDF] to include a broader area as it develops the
pilot project set forth in AB 744 and AB 2142.
"Expanding the diameter of trees that can be harvested under the
Forest Fire Prevention Exemption will allow greater
opportunities to manage our forests in a way that reduces fire
risk and protects communities. California cannot stand back and
watch it forests burn, we must improve forest management to
ensure that our forests are resilient and can be appreciated by
future generations."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-0, 5/8/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez, Holden, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein,
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Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande,
Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner,
Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A.
P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Eggman, Gorell, Gray, Hall, Mansoor, V. Manuel
P�rez, Vacancy
RM:nl 8/5/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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