SECTIONS 4789-4789.7 - California Statutes

PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE

SECTION 4789-4789.7

4789. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Forest
and Rangeland Resources Assessment and Policy Act of 1977.

4789.1. The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
(a) The forest resources of California provide vitally important
economic and environmental benefits to the people of California.
(b) Demands on forest resources in California are expected to
increase significantly in the next decades.
(c) Forest resources in California are limited.
(d) Better use of forest resources can result where there is good
information as to anticipated needs and constraints and the
potentials for meeting such needs consistent with Section 4513.
(e) The necessary information is not now available and should be
developed.
(f) It is the intent of the Legislature to provide for the
assessment of California's forest resources in order to develop and
implement forest resources policies for the state.

4789.2. As used in this chapter:
(a) "Board" means the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection.
(b) "Resources Planning Act" means the Forest and Rangelands
Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. Secs. 1601 to
1610, incl.).
(c) "Assessment" means the forest resource assessment and analysis
developed pursuant to Section 4789.3.
(d) "Director" means the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection.
(e) "Forest and rangeland resources" means those uses and values
associated with, attainable from, or closely tied to, forest and
rangelands, including fish, range, recreation, timber, watershed,
wilderness, and wildlife.
(f) "Forest land" means timberland defined pursuant to subdivision
(g), and other lands that have been withdrawn from timber
production, such as units of the state park system, national parks,
and wilderness areas.
(g) "Timberland" means land on which is growing a significant
stand of trees of commercial species, or potential commercial
species, either in public or private ownership or that is generally
capable of maintaining a stand of trees in perpetuity and not
withdrawn or otherwise devoted to uses other than timber production.
(h) "Timber" means wood fiber of commercial or potential
commercial species growing on timberland as defined in subdivision
(g).
(i) "Rangeland" means land on which the existing vegetation,
whether growing naturally or through management, is suitable for
grazing or browsing of domestic livestock for at least a portion of
the year. Rangeland includes any natural grasslands, savannas,
shrublands (including chaparral), deserts, wetlands, and woodlands
(including Eastside ponderosa pine, pinyon, juniper, and oak) which
support a vegetative cover of native grasses, grasslike plants,
forbs, shrubs, or naturalized species.

4789.3. (a) Under policy guidance from the board and in
consultation with the Secretary of the Resources Agency, the director
shall prepare and submit to the board and the Secretary of the
Resources Agency, a preliminary forest and rangeland resource
assessment and analysis not later than July 1, 1979, and shall
present a full and updated assessment by January 1, 1987, and by
January 1 of each fifth year thereafter. The assessment and analysis
shall recognize distinct differences in ownership and management of
forest and rangeland resources in California between the various
public and the various private owners and shall include, but not be
limited to, the following:
(1) An assessment and analysis of the supply and availability of
the various present and potential forest and rangeland resources of
the state, including limits to those supplies imposed by natural site
conditions, such as slope stability and erosion hazard, or by
governmental restriction, such as special zoning. Among resource
potentials to be evaluated are opportunities to accomplish any of the
following:
(A) Improve and rehabilitate the understocked timberland in
California and to more fully utilize the productive potential for
growing and harvesting timber.
(B) Improve wood fiber utilization and wood product recycling.
(C) Salvage trees infested with insects and diseases on
timberland.
(D) Improve the management of forest wildlife and wildlife habitat
within the state.
(E) Increase the quantity and quality of recreation available in
the state.
(F) Improve and rehabilitate rangeland areas within the state.
(G) Increase the potential to use wood fiber from timberland as an
economically viable source of fuel for energy production.
(H) Improve the potential for rangeland forage for domestic
livestock production.
(2) An assessment and critique of federal policies with respect to
rangeland and timberland. The assessment and critique shall include
(A) as to timberlands, a review of the federal government's national
forest revenue sharing program administered pursuant to Section 500
of Title 16 of the United States Code, and (B) as to rangelands, a
review of grazing fee charges and revenue sharing policies affecting
national forest lands administered by the United States Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service. The timber sale revenue sharing and
grazing fee policies of the Department of the Interior shall also be
reviewed. In conducting the review, the director shall consult with
the State Board of Equalization, and with local governments and
school districts affected by the federal government's revenue sharing
programs.
(3) An analysis of present and anticipated demand for various
forest and rangeland resources in the state.
(4) A description and evaluation of current state programs and
responsibilities in cooperative state-federal forest and rangeland
resource programs, and management of state and local public forest,
range, and related lands.
(5) A discussion of important policy considerations, laws,
regulations, management responsibilities, and other factors expected
to influence and significantly affect the use, ownership, and
management of forest and rangeland resources.
(6) When assessing various resource potentials which could be
obtained from forest lands and rangeland, the director shall include
an evaluation of probable direct and indirect economic and
environmental benefits and costs, including opportunity costs,
associated with realizing those potentials.
(b) In preparing the assessment, the director, under policy
guidance of the board, shall solicit the cooperation of, and
information collected by, public and private organizations, federal
forest and rangeland resource agencies, state agencies concerned with
forest and rangeland resources, county planning and taxation
agencies, and state-supported forest and rangeland resource research
agencies.
(c) For the purpose of assisting the director and the board in
preparing the assessment and its revisions, the board may appoint
advisory committees it deems necessary. The committees shall consist
of individuals with expertise in forest and rangeland resource
fields, with particular emphasis on survey and program analysis, and
shall include representatives of state agencies concerned with the
use of forest and rangeland resources.
(d) In preparation of the assessment, the director shall do all of
the following:
(1) Analyze the need to develop and maintain an effective system
for the collection, analysis, and display of that data in forms that
contribute to the achievement of the purposes of this chapter.
(2) Identify high-priority needs for completing the data base and
analytical framework essential to improving the quality of future
assessments.
(3) Evaluate the accuracy and completeness of existing data and of
steps needed to improve the accuracy and completeness of data for
future assessments.

4789.4. (a) Based on a review of the assessment prepared pursuant
to Section 4789.3, and consistent with Sections 740 and 4513, the
board shall prepare a forest resource policy statement.
(b) Such policy statement shall recognize distinct differences
between the various public and various private owners of forest
resources in the state and should include, insofar as is possible,
the following:
(1) A delineation of specific needs and opportunities for
promoting both public and private forest resource management programs
in California.
(2) A discussion of priorities for accomplishment of program
opportunities, with specified costs, results, and possible
constraints on implementation.
(3) An analysis of the relation of the alternative forest resource
policies to employment opportunities in California.

4789.5. The board shall hold public hearings on the assessment and
the proposed policy statement prepared pursuant to Sections 4789.3
and 4789.4.

4789.6. (a) The board, assisted by the director, shall biennially
determine state needs for forest management research and recommend
the conduct of needed projects to the Governor and the Legislature.
(b) To facilitate reporting and updating the assessment pursuant
to Section 4789.3, the director, under guidance by the board, may
prepare and implement a forest resource management information
storage and retrieval program regarding forest land conditions in the
state. Such program shall be coordinated and integrated to the
maximum extent practicable with data storage and retrieval programs
of other state and federal agencies and institutions. The director
shall review existing forest resource management storage, retrieval,
and analysis systems in the institutions of higher learning in this
state, and insofar as the board deems desirable, may utilize such
systems as a model for the state program established pursuant to this
section.
(c) The director shall, as budgetary resources permit, develop a
cost-effective and statistically valid system to periodically monitor
the extent to which timberland is, or is becoming, less available
for the growing and harvesting of timber due to zoning, onsite
development, adjacent land uses, ownership patterns, parcel size, or
any other factors.

4789.7. (a) The director shall convey the assessment and its
updates to federal agencies charged with managing public land within
the state.
(b) To assure the availability and compatibility of data and
scientific information needed for development and implementation of
the assessment, the board and the director shall cooperate with the
United States Department of Agriculture in conducting surveys and
analyses as provided for in the Resources Planning Act and with other
federal agencies as provided by federal law.