Forestry
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What’s New?
Campbell Creek Planning Watershed Pilot Project Final Draft Report Released for Public Review. The draft report and its appendices can be found here. To read more about the pilot project, click here.
Notice of April 17, 2019 Public Workshop #2:
Implementing AB 1492: Development of Ecological Performance Measures for California Timberlands- Regionalized Monitoring and Assessment
For more detail and to register click the invitation HERE.
New AB 1492 Ecological Performance Measures website. To learn more, click HERE.
State Timber Harvest Review Team staff are now using CalTREES. CAL FIRE is entering timber harvesting documents into CalTREES to facilitate faster and easier collaborative reviews. On October 1, 2018, CAL FIRE and Review Team Agencies began using the new on-line system for reviewing timber harvesting documents. The CalTREES project team plans to release additional features throughout late 2018 into early 2019, and will offer trainings to the public, Registered Professional Foresters, Licensed Timber Operators, and landowners as new functionality becomes available.
About the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Program
The California Natural Resources Agency shares with the California Environmental Protection Agency the responsibility for implementing the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Program established in the Public Resources Code (starting at section 4590) under Assembly Bill 1492 (Committee on Budget, Chapter 289, Statutes of 2012). The Natural Resources Agency Assistant Secretary of Forest Resources Management is the lead for coordinating implementation of the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Program by the two agencies and their responsible departments or boards [Natural Resources Agency: Department of Conservation (California Geological Survey), Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Environmental Protection Agency: State Water Resources Control Board and Regional Water Quality Control Boards].
The major components of the Timber Regulation in California Forest Restoration Program provide a funding stream via a one-percent assessment on lumber and engineered wood products sold at the retail level, seek transparency and efficiency improvements to the State’s timber harvest regulation programs, provide for development of ecological performance measures, establish a forest restoration grant program, and require program reporting to the Legislature.
A particular challenge for the program will be the development of ecological performance measures for the State’s nonfederal timberlands. While the California Natural Resources Agency and the California Environmental Protection Agency have the lead responsibility for this task, working with the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Effectiveness Monitoring Committee will provide an important opportunity for furthering the work on this task. Hand-in-hand with the ecological performance measures will be the identification and collection of the environmental data that are needed to support the measures. To be successful, the ecological performance measures must have a sound scientific basis and be supported by the review team agencies, other state and federal natural resource agencies, regulated forestland owners, and a wide range of stakeholders. Providing stakeholder input opportunities for the development of ecological performance measures and other aspects of the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Program will be critical to the program’s success. To learn more, click here.
Annual Reporting Assembly Bill 1492 requires annual reporting to the Legislature. The annual reports are available here. The reports provide substantial background and statistics on the work that the California Natural Resources Agency and the California Environmental Protection Agency are undertaking to implement the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Program.
AB 1492 Ecological Performance Measures- A Monitoring and Assessment Initiative Covering California Timberland Ecosystems
Please click here to be directed to the webpage for the AB 1492 Ecological Performance Measures initiative.
Implementation of the California Timber Regulation
and Environmental Evaluation System (CalTREES)
Timber harvest permitting in California is moving into a new era with the launch of CalTREES by CAL FIRE and the AB 1492 Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Program. This on-line system will streamline the submission and review processes for timber harvesting documents. The system will feature easy-to-use forms and real-time reporting and analytics. To read more, click here.
Planning Watershed Pilot Projects – Updated July 2018
Campbell Creek Planning Watershed Pilot Project Draft Report Released for Public Review. The draft report and its appendices can be found here.
To read more about the pilot project, click here.
Organizing to do our Work
We have formed a Leadership Team and four working groups to conduct much of our work for developing critical elements of the vision of AB 1492. You can access the charters for each of these by clicking on the links below. In the near future, we will be posting draft work plans, which are currently under development, for comment.