Archive – Forestry

December 19, 2014 Public Update Meeting and Solicitation of Comments

On December 19, 2014, the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Program held a webcast public meeting to provide a program update and solicit comments on the draft charters for three working groups. The webcast for the meeting is available for viewing/listening here.

The draft working group charters are available here.

The comment period for the draft working group charters is now closed. The comments received are posted below:

We greatly appreciate the public participation in our December 19, 2014 public meeting and the comments that were provided to us, both orally during the meeting and in writing. Over the next several weeks, the AB 1492 Leadership Team and Working Groups will review the comments received and make adjustments to the charters and other aspects of our work (such as opportunities for public participation) in response to the comments. We will prepare and post a summary of the comments and our response to them.

Redding Pilot Project There is overlap between the scope of the Redding Pilot Project and the scope of Assembly Bill 1492. In March 2012, prior to the passage of AB 1492, the California Natural Resources Agency and the California Environmental Protection Agency directed the state agencies located in Redding that review timber harvest plans to initiate a Pilot Project that would test cross-agency coordination, program management, and review strategies. The intent was to bring efficiencies to the state’s review and permitting of timber harvesting on non-federal lands. The Pilot Project was conducted by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board
(Region 5), the Department of Fish and Wildlife (Region 1), and the Department of Conservation’s California Geological Survey over a one-year period. The Pilot Project area covered all of Shasta and Tehama counties, and portions of Siskiyou, Modoc and Lassen counties.

The primary goals of the Project were to significantly reduce processing time for timber harvest permits within the Pilot Project area, ensure appropriate and full agency participation in the review process, maintain a high level of environmental protection, and identify process improvements that could be expanded to other areas of the state.

The main Redding Pilot Project Report was completed in July 2013. A Supplemental Report that tracks the subject Timber Harvesting Plans (THPs) through the end of the THP review was completed in June 2014. The AB 1492 Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Program has now completed a draft follow-up plan for further action on the Redding Pilot Project recommendations, providing a transition of the recommendations into the larger Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Program process. All three reports are available here. The public comment period on the draft Redding Pilot Project Follow-Up Plan is now closed. Two written comments were received, which are available here. A presentation on the Follow-Up plan was made to the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection on December 10, 2014. At that meeting, a Board member urged the AB 1492 Program to be sure to engage with registered professional foresters and other public stakeholders as it works to improve the harvesting plan application and review process. No public comments were made at the Board meeting. The AB 1492 Leadership Team is preparing a final draft of the Follow-Up Plan, which they will begin to implement upon its completion. The final Redding Pilot Project Follow-Up Plan will be posted to this website upon its completion.