Bill Text: CA AB380 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Resources: watersheds.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2011-08-25 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB380 Detail]

Download: California-2011-AB380-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 380	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Chesbro

                        FEBRUARY 14, 2011

   An act to add Article 5.5 (commencing with Section 4564) to
Chapter 8 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code,
relating to resources. .



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 380, as introduced, Chesbro. Resources: watersheds.
   The Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973, among other
things, prohibits a person from conducting timber operations unless a
timber harvesting plan prepared by a registered professional
forester has been submitted to the Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection, and unless the plan has been approved. Existing law
requires the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to adopt certain
forest practice rules and regulations to minimize the effects of
erosion on water resources and lakes.
   This bill would require the department and the board, when
implementing a pilot project to protect and restore the riparian zone
in watersheds with listed anadromous salmonids, among other things,
to provide the industry, agencies, and the public with the
opportunity to participate in the development of the pilot project in
a transparent manner and to ensure that the pilot project have
certain goals. The bill would also require all documents that form
the basis for the pilot projects to be posted on the department's
Internet Web site.
   The bill would require the board, or a technical advisory
committee, to develop recommendations for providing electronic public
access to all relevant documents that assist the department in
administering timber harvest regulations for actions that occur on a
planning watershed scale.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) There are numerous water bodies in California that have been
declared by the State Water Resources Control Board to be impaired
due to excessive sedimentation, high water temperatures, and
pollutants.
   (b) Sequestration of carbon in forest lands is a vital component
of California's climate change strategy as articulated by the Climate
Action Team and the Air Resources Board.
   (c) The regions of California that have state or federal listed
anadromous salmonid species are often predominately forest lands that
are subject to the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973,
pursuant to Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 4511) of Part 2 of
Division 4 of the Public Resources Code, for purposes of review and
approval of timber harvest plans. These plans include, but are not
limited to, timber harvest plans (THPs), nonindustrial timber
management plans (NTMPs), Sustained Yield Plans (SYPs), and Program
Timberland Environmental Impact Reports (PTEIR).
   (d) Important gains have been made in forest land resource
protection and conservation since the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice
Act of 1973, including the application of the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and various state and federal water
quality and fish and game statutes and regulations.
   (e) There are still opportunities for improvement by the
development of a comprehensive cumulative effects review process that
is conducted in cooperation with landowners and other stakeholders.
An effective cumulative effects process can provide the information
necessary to restore and recover fish and wildlife populations, to
improve the quality and quantity of timber, to take actions to reduce
fire hazards, to sequester carbon, to produce energy, and to create
jobs.
  SEC. 2.  Article 5.5 (commencing with Section 4564) is added to
Chapter 8 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code, to
read:

      Article 5.5.  Comprehensive Forest Land Recovery and
Restoration Act


   4564.  When implementing a pilot project pursuant to a regulation
adopted in accordance with Section 4551, 4551.5, or 4562.7, to
protect and restore the riparian zone in watersheds with listed
anadromous salmonids, the department and board shall comply with all
of the following:
   (a) The department shall implement a pilot project on state forest
land only when a private landowner is not willing to undertake a
pilot project on private lands.
   (b) Provide the industry, agencies, and the public with the
opportunity to participate in the development of a pilot project in a
transparent manner.
   (c) A pilot project shall result in the development of guidelines
for conducting a cumulative effects evaluation on a planning
watershed scale, and shall address the potential project-specific
planning watershed cumulative effects of timber harvesting
activities. In particular, the guidelines shall require the
following:
   (1) The spatial scale of the cumulative effects analysis to be
consistent with the site-specific and cumulative impacts of the
project in the watershed and its physical processes.
   (2) The use of reproducible, quantitative methods of evaluation as
the primary means of determining baseline physical, chemical, or
biological parameters, in estimating cumulative impacts, and in
monitoring implementation of mitigation measures.
   (3) Documentation of the conclusions and recommendations.
   (4) An evaluation by a person or entity with relevant training and
experience.
   (d) Consult with and seek comment from appropriate scientific
experts in order to develop evaluation guidelines that are feasible,
enforceable, and protective of the public trust. The department and
the board may draw from information in the State of Washington's
Watershed Analysis Manual or the Methods Manual developed by the
State of California's North Coast Watershed Assessment Program when
developing guidelines.
   (e) A pilot project shall have one or more of the following goals:

   (1) Restore fisheries and wildlife habitat.
   (2) Reduce the risk of wildfire.
   (3) Recover forest characteristics which will produce high-quality
timber.
   (4) Reduce sedimentation and soil loss.
   (5) Achieve long-term carbon sequestration.
   (6) Restore and recover unique attributes of a given planning
watershed.
   (f) A pilot project shall be consistent with state and federal
mandates governing coho recovery and restoration of impaired water
bodies.
   (g) Funding and personnel for the development and implementation
of pilot projects shall be utilized from existing department and
responsible agencies' budgets and personnel. Additional funding shall
be sought from private and public sources, statewide and nationally,
with an emphasis on receiving support from educational institutions.

   (h) All documents that form the basis for the pilot projects that
are developed pursuant to this section shall be posted on the
department's Internet Web site.
   4565.  The board, or a technical advisory committee, shall develop
recommendations for providing electronic public access to all
relevant documents that assist the department in administering timber
harvest regulations for actions that occur on a planning watershed
scale.