NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING ON A.B. 1492

The California Natural Resources Agency (Agency) and California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) will be providing an update on the status of Assembly Bill (A.B.) 1492, the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Program. Oral and written public comments on the program’s draft working group charters are welcomed.

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WHAT:

Update on A.B. 1492 Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Program and public comment on draft working group charters.

WHEN:

Fri., Dec. 19, 2014, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. PST

WHERE:

  • In person:
    • CalEPA, Klamath Training Room, 1001 I Street, Sacramento
  • WebEx:
    • Visit the meeting WebEx Link
    • If requested, enter your name and e-mail address
    • If a password is required, enter the meeting password: 1492
    • Click "Join"
  • Teleconference:
    • Call-in toll-free numbers: (866) 564-9796 or (210) 453-7876
    • Attendee access code: 9162905

Depending on the number of persons wishing to make oral comments at the meeting, a speaking time limit may be established. Written comments may also be emailed to: AB1492program.comments@resources.ca.gov.

All comments must be submitted by Jan. 5, 2015.


Also contact Russell Henly, Assistant Secretary of Forest Resources Management at the California Natural Resources Agency. Urge Henly to ensure that the pilot projects proceed.

Russell Henly
Assistant Secretary of Forest Resources Management
California Natural Resources Agency
1416 Ninth Street, Suite 1311
Sacramento, CA 95814
Email: russ.henly@resources.ca.gov
Phone: (916) 651-3139

SAMPLE COMMENTS:

  1. The best way to collect sound scientific data and ecological performance measures is to heed Forests Forever's recommendations, enshrined in three successive bills authored by Assemblymember Wes Chesbro, the latest being A.B. 875. This approach would establish two forestry pilot projects funded by A.B. 1492. Pilot projects would produce uniform standards and procedures in managing logging projects, on a planning watershed scale. Please do this immediately to help California's forests recover from decades of poorly conceived and executed logging projects.
  2. Through the lumber tax established by A.B. 1492 the timber industry has been relieved entirely of the cost of its regulatory programs. As the public, through its retail purchase of forest products, is paying all these costs, the public is entitled to full transparency and a seat at the table in designing and carrying out the provisions of A.B. 1492! Under the Effectiveness Monitoring Committee schema this transparency and participation has been denied—the process remains fully under the control of the usual timber industry and agency players.
  3. For too long our forests have been subjected to sedimentation, rising water temperatures, and pollution in numerous streams and lakes, imperiling fish and wildlife and harming forest values that Californians hold dear. The best way to develop methods for restoring damaged watersheds is to set up forestry pilot projects. Please implement such projects immediately to develop uniform standards and procedures for addressing the cumulative impacts of multiple logging projects in watersheds. A.B. 1492 provides ample funding for the projects, but to make sure the work on the ground actually goes forward your office will need to take affirmative steps.
 

Forests Forever:
Their Ecology, Restoration, and Protection
by
John J. Berger

NOW AVAILABLE
from Forests Forever Foundation
and the Center for American Places