BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2465
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2465 (Chesbro)
As Amended April 21, 2014
Majority vote
NATURAL RESOURCES 8-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Chesbro, Dahle, Bigelow, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bigelow, |
| |Garcia, Muratsuchi, | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian |
| |Patterson, Stone, | |Calderon, Campos, |
| |Williams | |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, |
| | | |Holden, Jones, Linder, |
| | | |Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Wagner, |
| | | |Weber |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires the Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection (CAL FIRE) to create a uniformed prescribed burn plan
template for forest fuel treatment. Requires CAL FIRE and the
Air Resources Board (ARB) to develop a webpage that contains the
uniformed prescribed burn plan template and centralizes state
information pertinent to prescribed burning for the purpose of
promoting prescribed fire as a fuel treatment technique.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes findings and declaration regarding wildfires and
prescribed burns.
2)To assist landowners in conducting prescribed burns for the
purpose of forest fuel treatment, requires CAL FIRE, in
consultation with ARB and local air districts, to, no later
than July 1, 2015, do all of the following:
a) Develop a page on CAL FIRE's Web site that provides all
of the following:
i) Information on the regulations governing prescribed
burns for forest fuel treatment;
ii) Specific information about permissive burn days and
no-burn days;
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iii) The uniform prescribed burn template;
iv) Contact information for the offices at CAL FIRE,
ARB, and local air districts that can assist a person who
is interested in a prescribed burn for forest fuel
treatment; and,
v) Any other information that CAL FIRE determines is
appropriate regarding prescribed burns for forest fuel
treatment.
b) Develop a uniform prescribed burn template. Requires
the template to provide assistance to a person, who is
interested in conducting forest fuel treatment through a
prescribed burn, to do all of the following:
i) Use best management practices to ensure the owner
exercises due diligence in controlling the burn;
ii) Minimize impacts to the environment and public
health while maximizing the fire resiliency of the
treated forest; and,
iii) Obtain the appropriate regulatory approval from CAL
FIRE and local air districts.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Prohibits a person from burning any brush, stumps, logs,
fallen timber, fallows, slash, grass-covered land,
brush-covered land, forest-covered land, or other flammable
material, in any state responsibility area unless the person
has a written permit from CAL FIRE.
2)CAL FIRE's Private Burn Permit Program.
a) Declares that it is a public purpose for CAL FIRE to
cooperate with any person desiring to use prescribed
burning as a means of converting brush-covered lands into
forage lands, which has as its objective prevention of high
intensity wild land fires, watershed management, range
improvement, vegetation management, forest improvement,
wildlife habitat improvement, and maintenance of air
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quality, or any combination thereof.
b) Requires CAL FIRE to provide advisory service to
applicants for permits as to precautions to be taken by the
applicant to prevent damage to the property of others by
reason of the prescribed burning. Requires CAL FIRE to
provide standby fire protection, to such extent as
personnel, fire crews, and firefighting equipment are
available.
c) Authorizes any landowner with brush-covered land within
a state responsibility area to apply to CAL FIRE for
permission to burn the brush from such lands. Requires the
application to be on a form prescribed by CAL FIRE and to
contain a description of the lands and such other pertinent
information as the CAL FIRE may require.
3)Creates the Smoke Management Guidelines for Agricultural and
Prescribed Burning, which addresses, among other things,
prescribed burning for forest improvement, to provide
direction to regional air districts in the regulation and
control of agricultural burning. (According to Title 17
California Code of Regulations (CCR) Section 80100, these
guidelines are intended to provide for the continuation of
agricultural burning, including prescribed burning, as a
resource management tool, and provide increased opportunities
for prescribed burning and agricultural burning, while
minimizing smoke impacts on the public.)
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)Increased annual costs in the $150,000 to $175,000 range for
CAL FIRE to develop, maintain, and manage the information
required to be incorporated on the webpage (State
Responsibility Area Fund);
2)Minor, absorbable costs for CAL FIRE to develop the uniform
prescribed burn template; and,
3)Absorbable costs for ARB to consult with CAL FIRE.
COMMENTS : For thousands of years, California's forests were
sculpted by frequent, low- to moderate-intensity wildfires.
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However, fire suppression, the preferential harvest of
large-diameter trees, and forestland conversion over the past
150 years have worsened fuel conditions over millions of acres
of forests such that recent wildfires have tended to be larger
and more severe, and this trend will likely continue given
climate change.
Fire experts generally recognize that if hazardous fuels (e.g.,
downed wood, shrubs, intermediate-size trees that can carry fire
into the forest canopy) are not reduced, the number of severe
wildland fires and the costs associated with suppressing them
will continue to increase. For example, the cost to respond to
last year's Rim Fire, which burned more than 250,000 acres in
the central Sierra Nevada region, was estimated at $125.8
million as of September 27, 2013. In 2008, the Basin Complex
and Indians Fire in Monterey County burned almost 240,000 acres
and cost approximately $120 million. These two fires are
considered among the largest and most costly in state history.
The ecological impacts of these larger fires are also
significant. Preliminary reports show that the Rim Fire
severely altered the habitat that is home to several of
California's rarest animals: the great gray owl, the Sierra
Nevada red fox, and the Pacific fisher. These fires also
uncover sediments that erode into streams, affecting various
types of fish and wildlife.
A recent scientific article published by the Journal of
Bioscience, explains that forest fuel reduction using prescribed
fire and mechanical treatment (i.e., removal of small trees with
heavy equipment and/or grinding up small trees and shrubs) is
generally effective at reducing future fire intensity and
improving tree health without negatively impacting understory
vegetation, soil density or erosion, wildlife, or carbon
storage.
(http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/fettig/psw_2012_fettig001(
stephens).pdf)
Prescribed fire is a relatively inexpensive way to reduce
surface and ladder fuels. Mechanical treatments are generally
more expensive, though the small and intermediate sized trees
removed can produce wood products such as sawlogs or biomass
chips to offset treatment costs. This is highly dependent,
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however, on the proximity of the site to a sawmill or biomass
facility since transporting chips and logs is relatively high.
On March 11, 2014, the author's office held a stakeholder
workshop on fuel treatment. During this workshop, some of the
stakeholders expressed interest in the creation of a uniformed
prescribed burn plan template (similar to templates developed
throughout the country) to help provide private forestland
owners with information needed to conduct prescribe fire in a
manner that meets all regulatory requirements and promotes best
management practices. It was also apparent during the workshop
discussions that forest landowners could benefit from better
communication and coordination with CAL FIRE, ARB, and local air
districts. This bill will create a uniformed prescribed burn
plan template and require CAL FIRE and ARB to develop a webpage
that contains the template and centralizes existing information
maintained by CAL FIRE and ARB to help people utilize state
resources regarding prescribed fire.
Analysis Prepared by : Mario DeBernardo / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092
FN: 0003681