Amended in Assembly April 21, 2014

Amended in Assembly March 28, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2465

Introduced by Assembly Member Chesbro

February 21, 2014

An act to add begin delete Section 4495 to end delete begin insert Article 4 (commencing with Section 4495) to Chapter 7 of Part 2 of Division 4 of end insert the Public Resources Code, relating to forestry.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2465, as amended, Chesbro. Burning of lands: private burns.

Existing law authorizes any person, firm, or corporation, or any combination thereof, that owns or controls brush-covered land within a state responsibility area to apply to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for permission to burn the brush from the land. Existing law requires the department to provide advisory service to applicants for burn permits as to the precautions to be taken by the applicant to prevent damage to the property of others by reason of the prescribed burning, and to provide standby fire protection, as available.

This bill would require the department, by July 1, 2015, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board and local air districts, begin delete to, among other things, end delete begin insert to end insert develop a page on the department’s Internet Web site that provides certain information relating to prescribed burns, including information on the regulations that govern prescribed burns for forest fuel treatment begin insert , and to develop a uniform prescribed burn template to assist a person conducting a prescribed burn, as provided end insert .

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

begin delete

SECTION 1.  

Section 4495 is added to the Public Resources
Code, to read:

4495.  

end delete

begin insert

begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert begin insert

Article 4 (commencing with Section 4495) is
added to Chapter 7 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources
Code, to read:

end insert

 

begin insert

Article begin insert begin insert 4. end insert end insert   Forestland Fuel Hazard Reduction

end insert

 

begin insert

begin insert 4495. end insert   

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) For millennia, fire has shaped and renewed the ecosystems
of California’s forestlands. In many parts of the state, historical
fire regimes were frequent, with fires occurring as often as every
5 to 10 years. Some of these fires were naturally ignited by
lightning, but fire was also an important tool for Native Americans,
who used it to promote the growth of certain plants they relied on
for food, medicine, and materials to make baskets, string, and
shelter.

(b) For the last 100 to 150 years, states and the federal
government have adopted fire suppression policies that have
resulted in high fuel accumulations on forestlands. This has been
reflected in the increasingly severe fire seasons in recent years
with more acres burned, increased number of catastrophic fires,
problematic containment and suppression, and increased financial
costs.

(c) The 2013 Rim Fire demonstrated the dangers and cost of
high fuel accumulations on forestlands. The Rim Fire burned more
than 250,000 acres over a period of 69 days; caused at least
hundreds of millions of dollars in economic and environmental
damage; destroyed significant habitat for a number of California’s
rarest animals; blanketed large swaths of northern California and
northern Nevada with thick smoke; threatened reservoirs, such as
Hetch Hetchy; and demanded more than $125 million in
firefighting costs. The fire caused the Governor to declare states
of emergency in the counties of Tuolumne, Mariposa, and San
Francisco and the President of the United States to make a Major
Disaster Declaration. According to federal forest ecologists, the
Rim Fire’s exponential growth was tied to a century’s worth of
fuel left behind due to historic policies of fire suppression. The
lack of fire over the years had led to overgrown and unhealthy
forests. In fact, the fire slowed only after hitting areas that had
burned in the past two decades due to prescribed and natural
burns.

(d) Many states and the federal government have been taking
measures to increase the use of prescribed burning as a vegetation
management tool to reduce the naturally occurring buildup of
vegetative fuels on forestlands, thereby reducing the risk and
severity of wildfires and lessening the loss of life and property.
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian
Affairs, National Parks Service, United States Forest Service,
Bureau of Land Management, and United States Fire
Administration are part of an interagency strategy that has adopted
direction and guidance for prescribed burn planning and
implementation. These agencies have created a formal prescribed
fire plan template as part of this effort. Moreover, several states
have laws that promote prescribed burning and approximately
one-half of the states in the country have prescribed fire councils.

(e) In addition to reducing the frequency and severity of
wildfires, prescribed burning of forestlands helps to prepare sites
for replanting and natural seeding, to control insects and diseases,
and to increase productivity.

(f) Prescribed burning is often the most cost-effective, efficient
fuel treatment option for forestlands. In some circumstances, costs
may be a challenge when preburn thinning is required to avoid
fire escape during burns. In California, some of these costs may
be offset through existing timber harvest permit exemptions (for
example, the Forest Fire Prevention Pilot Project Exemption) that
allow landowners to harvest timber to offset the cost of thinning.

(g) While prescribed burning inherently creates wood smoke,
this smoke pales in comparison to the air quality issues created
by catastrophic wildfires. Therefore, by reducing the threat of
catastrophic wildfires, prescribed burning can have net air quality
benefits that are significant to protecting public health.

(h) Though prescribed burning is widely recognized as an
effective, powerful management tool, it is complex in nature and
highly regulated. Successful implementation of prescribed burning
requires careful planning, specific weather conditions, qualified
crews, funding, public support, and the satisfaction of various laws
and regulations. These variables can make it difficult for managers
to utilize prescribed burning, and they often have to turn to more
expensive, less efficient, and less ecologically appropriate
management tools, stalling the overall pace and scale of treatment.

(i) To limit the threat of catastrophic wildfires and to improve
forest health, it is a priority of the state to have an effective
prescribed burning program that requires best management
practices and utilizes the expertise of state agencies to ensure
maximum benefits and protection for the environment and the
public.

end insert begin insert

begin insert 4496. end insert   

In enacting this article, it is the intent of the Legislature
to accomplish all of the following:

(a) The creation of a centralized source of information for forest
landowners to assist them in using prescribed burning in a manner
that does all of the following:

(1) Complies with existing laws and regulations.

(2) Utilizes best management practices to ensure the forest
landowner exercises due diligence in controlling the burn.

(3) Maximizes benefits and protection for the environment and
the public.

(b) The creation of a uniform prescribed burn template, modeled
after the federal prescribed fire plan template, that forest
landowners can utilize to conduct burns, that does all of the
following:

(1) Complies with existing laws and regulations.

(2) Utilizes best management practices to ensure the forest
landowner exercises due diligence in controlling the burn.

(3) Maximizes benefits and protection for the environment and
the public.

end insert

begin insert

begin insert 4497. end insert   

end insert

To assist landowners in conducting prescribed burns for
the purpose of forest fuel treatment, the department, in consultation
with the State Air Resources Board and local air districts, shall,
no later than July 1, 2015, do all of the following:

(a) Develop a page on the department’s Internet Web site that
provides all of the following:

(1) Information on the regulations governing prescribed burns
for forest fuel treatment.

(2) Specific information about permissive burn days and no-burn
days.

(3) The uniform prescribed burn template described in
subdivision (b).

(4) Contact information for the offices at the department, State
Air Resources Board, and local air districts that can assist a person
who is interested in a prescribed burn for forest fuel treatment.

(5) Any other information that the department determines is
appropriate regarding prescribed burns for forest fuel treatment.

(b) Develop a uniform prescribed burn template. The template
shall provide assistance to a person, who is interested in conducting
forest fuel treatment through a prescribed burn, to do all of the
following:

(1) Use best management practices to begin delete minimize end delete begin insert ensure the
exercise of due diligence in controlling the burn. end insert

begin insert (2) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert Minimize end insert impacts to the environment and public health
while maximizing the fire resiliency of the treated forest.

begin delete

(2)

end delete

begin insert (3) end insert  Obtain the appropriate regulatory approval from the
department and local air districts.