UPDATE: AB 2494 made it out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee

Great news! AB 2494 made it out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee and is now up for a floor vote at the Assembly level, which will occur by May 29th. After the bill passes the floor, we will then move to the Senate Natural Resources Committee. The Committee made amendments to the bill, which are summarized below:

• Funding restructuring: CAL FIRE can use both the Forest Resources Improvement Fund (FRIF) and the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund (TRFRF) to fund demonstration state forests. 

  • Section numbers: 4629.6 (g); 4652 (b)-(d).

  • What changed? The bill keeps the FRIF in place and revenues from demonstration state forests will go back into this fund. However, CAL FIRE will still be able to draw from the TRFRF (which is funded by a 1% retail assessment on all lumber and engineered wood products) when needed, which allows CAL FIRE to decouple their operations from the need to rely solely on timber sales. 

• research support: Sections of the bill specifically call out the need for research.

  • Section numbers: 4631 (b), (f), and (g); 4631.5 (c).

  • What changed? Sections were added to the bill to highlight the research purpose of demonstration state forests and to support long-term research efforts that are compatible with the definition of management. 

• Local preferences: The bill now gives preference to local sawmills 

  • Section number: 4651 (b).

  • What changed? Sections were added directing the Board of Forestry to develop regulations that provide preferences to local sawmills for log processing. This helps address concerns about local job loss at the mills and reduces vehicle miles traveled (VMTs) created by transporting logs longer distances. 

  • What’s next? The committee favorably considered but did not incorporate a contracting preference for California Native American tribes. The author and sponsor will work together with tribes to incorporate these amendments at the Senate level.  Such amendments intend to support tribal nations in developing their workforce to do restoration work, including forestry, burning, and more. 

• Performance metrics for management: The bill requires CAL FIRE to track progress towards meeting management goals.

  • Section number: 4651 (c).

  • What changed? A section was added that requires CAL FIRE to track progress in meeting biodiversity conservation, restoration, and other management goals in forest management plans. 

• Old growth trees protected

  • Section number: 4631 (e).

  • What changed? A section was added to say that the state finds and declares “All old growth trees should be protected.”

• Recognition of tribal co-management and timber harvest and other forest management practices as valid tools for achieving biodiversity conservation

  • Section numbers: 4631 (h) and (i) ; 4639 (b). 

  • What changed? Language was added or reworded to affirm that tribal comanagement and forest management practices under the Forest Practices Act can be used to achieve biodiversity conservation and wildfire resilience. 

• The bill allows prescribed herbivory, recreation concession, and use of existing rock pits

  • Section number: 4656 (b).

  • What changed? The bill replaces the term “grazing” with “prescribed herbivory,” which refers to the use of livestock and other animals to treat vegetation. The bill also allows the use of existing rock pits for gravel use, which maintains VMT levels and costs to CAL FIRE in importing gravel. The bill also allows external groups to host recreation events that charge fees or encourage donations to participate, such as marathons.

These amendments strengthen the bill as it moves forward and will lead to support from a broad array of stakeholders. The bill’s purpose of revising the management priorities and allowing these lands to count towards 30x30 has not changed. AB 2494 still prioritizes biodiversity conservation and wildfire resilience, and cuts out the requirement to demonstrate commercial logging. The bill also still allows CAL FIRE to draw from the TRFRF, which disincentivizes CAL FIRE from overlogging to fund operational costs. 

Please sign our petition in support of the bill if you haven’t already, and stay tuned for more ways to support! Thank you to Assemblymember Chris Rogers, the Save Jackson Coalition, our tribal partners, and all our supporters thus far.