Governor Vetoes AB 2494

Despite Overwhelming Legislative Support, California Loses Opportunity to Advance Tribal Co-management and Protect Public Lands

On Friday, Governor Newsom vetoed AB 2494 (Rogers), our bill to modernize the management of state-owned “demonstration forests.” Under existing law, these public lands are to be managed for “maximum sustained production” of timber products, while only “giving consideration” to other management values, like recreation, biodiversity, research, and wildfire resilience. Under AB 2494, California would have shifted the core mission of these public lands away from a historical mandate focused primarily on commercial timber logging toward ecological conservation, climate and wildfire resilience, and tribal stewardship. 

“We are so encouraged by the overwhelming message from the legislature that they want to see state lands managed to prioritize wildfire resilience, protecting public lands, and tribal comanagement. We only wish Governor Newsom agreed with them,” said Tom Wheeler, Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC). “We’re looking forward to working with our next governor to ensure public lands are managed for 21st century public trust values and not for the benefit of corporations.”

The veto message says the bill would narrow management of the Demonstration State Forests to “a limited set of public benefits.” The bill does the reverse. Current law directs management toward maximum sustained production of forest products. AB 2494 replaces that single-commodity mandate with a broader multi-benefit framework that includes biodiversity, durable carbon storage, watershed health, wildfire resilience, recreation, and the forests’ role as a living laboratory for ecological research.

The veto message also warns that California would lose flexibility in forest management. Again, the opposite is true. AB 2494 would have continued to allow timber harvest and research in furtherance of the public benefit objectives. Under existing state law, research and other public uses of the land are a lesser priority for land management than commercial timber production.

If passed, AB 2494 would have improved management of more than 84,000 acres of publicly owned land and would have aligned management of these lands with Governor Newsom’s directives on land conservation, tribal comanagement, and wildfire resilience. California is quickly approaching 2030, a target year by which Newsom himself has pledged to conserve 30% of state lands to confront our biodiversity and climate crises. Despite the fact that California is often a global climate leader, the Governor failed to use AB 2494 as an example of how the state’s own lands could demonstrate active management in meeting ambitious conservation goals. 

Earlier this year, the state set a goal to comanage 7.5 million acres with tribes. The bill would have strengthened tribal co-management opportunities by authorizing co-management agreements for demonstration state forests and encouraging the incorporation of traditional ecological knowledge into forest management. These actions would have furthered Governor Newsom’s own commitments on tribal stewardship and 30x30. Despite this policy backdrop, the veto message was silent on the commitments Newsom made to tribal nations and failed to acknowledge the impact tribally-focused management would have on forest health.

“Tribes have sustainably managed California’s forests since time immemorial. We have a lot to learn from their traditional ecological knowledge that has been developed over many centuries. Unfortunately, state law will continue to deprioritize the full exercise of tribal sovereignty over these precious forest landscapes,” said Melodie Meyer, Conservation Attorney at EPIC. 

Demonstration State Forests have been mired in controversy following proposals from CAL FIRE to intensively log mature second-growth stands in the Jackson Demonstration State Forest. There, protestors have stopped multiple attempts to log big, old trees by physically blocking logging roads, engaging in tree sits, and locking themselves to logging equipment. AB 2494 sought to break the stalemate over management of the Jackson and other demonstration state forests. Now, the future of management of these forests is uncertain.

EPIC thanks Assemblymembers Chris Rogers for being responsive to both his own district and tribal nations across the state. We are also grateful to Senator Mike McGuire for co-authoring this legislation. We owe a significant debt to Scott Alonso at Asm. Rogers’ office, who leaned into this legislation and helped deliver big majorities in both the Assembly and Senate. We are also grateful to the Mendocino Board of Supervisors, who requested this legislation to deal with the multitude of issues that have plagued the management of the Jackson Demonstration State Forest. EPIC is honored and inspired to have received support for AB 2494 from a broad coalition of labor groups, small businesses, tribal nations, rural counties, and environmental organizations.

If you would like to express your disappointment to Governor Newsom on his veto, you can find his contact page here. Remind him that, as an environmental vote, you will not forget where he stands with the trees.