Bill Text: CA AB2575 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended

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

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Bill Title: Resources: watersheds.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Vetoed) 2010-09-30 - Vetoed by Governor. [AB2575 Detail]

Download: California-2009-AB2575-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 2575	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JULY 15, 2010
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 28, 2010
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 27, 2010

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Chesbro
    (   Coauthor:   Assembly Member  
Evans   ) 

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2010

   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 2575, as amended, 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 to, among other
things, ensure that the industry, agencies, and the public have equal
opportunity to participate in the development of the pilot project
in a transparent manner and that the pilot project have certain
goals. 
   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. 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. 
   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 crucial problems within the watersheds of California
that have resulted, to a large extent, in the listing of fish and
other wildlife species under the California Endangered Species Act or
federal Endangered Species Act.  
   (b) 
    (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. 
   (c) Sequestration of carbon in forest lands is a vital component
in slowing climate change, and adequate understanding and actions to
respond to this need have not been determined nor implemented.
 
   (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.  
   (d) 
    (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 3 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code, for purposes of
review and approval of logging 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). 
   (e) There have been, and continue to be, concerns about the
impacts of forest management on the health of watersheds and the
species that depend on them. Forest practice rules addressing the
potential impacts to anadromous salmonids, for example, have only
recently been adopted in a comprehensive fashion despite over a
decade of litigation and deliberation by the state. In the meantime,
most native salmon and steelhead species are listed as threatened or
endangered and, as of 2006, there are 410 rivers or streams on the
north coast of the state that are listed as sediment-impaired under
the federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Sec. 1251 et seq.). Moreover,
it has been well documented that the existing rules addressing
cumulative effects analyses are woefully inadequate and appear to
exist in isolation of the processes of forest management, watershed
restoration, and other recovery activities.  
   (f) Significant, but at times limited, gains have been made in

    (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. These statutes and regulations have led to some
improvements, including, among other things, the fact that logs are
no longer yarded down streambeds, landings are not placed in streams,
riparian buffers have evolved, certain large trees along
watercourses are retained, and lower impact road building techniques
are required.  statutes and regulations.  
   (g) 
    (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.  A good   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  4551.5 or  
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) Provide the industry, agencies, and the public with equal
opportunity to participate in the development of a pilot project in a
transparent manner.
   (b) A pilot project shall result in the  adoption
  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 resources of concern, including watersheds and
soil productivity, and with the physical processes, including
erosion, that influence those resources.  
   (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) Sufficient documentation that supports the conclusions and
recommendations of an evaluation.  
   (3) Documentation of the conclusions and recommendations. 

   (4) The evaluator to have relevant training and experience.
 
   (4) An evaluation by a person or entity with relevant training and
experience. 
   (c) 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.
   (d) 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.
   (e) A pilot project shall be consistent with state and federal
mandates governing coho recovery and restoration of impaired water
bodies.
   (f) 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.

   (g) (1) 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.  
   (2) 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.