Law eases tree-thinning rules, Record Searchlight

Elected officials, Sierra Club say fire prevention now easier

By Alex Breitler
October 1, 2004

JONES VALLEY - As Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa spoke into a cluster of media microphones, someone in the distance fired up a chainsaw, drowning him out.
LaMalfa didn't mind. He had, after all, been praising a new law making it easier for landowners to cut up and dispose of excessive brush or trees from their fire-prone properties.

"We're getting started," he said with a smile as the chainsaw sputtered to life.

LaMalfa, R-Richvale, came to the fire-blackened hills of Jones Valley to send a message Thursday to property owners who in the past have been too daunted by regulatory paperwork to tackle thinning projects.

It's projects like those that might lessen the severity of blazes like the Bear Fire, which razed 86 homes in and around Jones Valley in August.

"It's a great big step in the direction we need to go," said LaMalfa, who sponsored the bill that was signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week. "Our forests have been undermanaged for many, many years."

First proposed in February, AB2420 - also known as the Forest Fire Prevention Act of 2004 - the law allows some fuel reduction projects to move forward without completion of a timber harvest plan. Those fat documents might cost landowners tens of thousands of dollars and eat up months of time for review, LaMalfa said.

However, the legislation doesn't erode "strict" environmental rules protecting wildlife and water quality, the assemblyman said. The maximum size for an exempt thinning project is 300 acres, and only those trees 18 inches or less in diameter are covered.

That's acceptable to the Sierra Club, which lent its support to the bill.

"The basic crux of the problem is pretty non-controversial," said Carl Zichella, regional staff director for the Sierra Club in Sacramento. "You can talk to firefighters, you can talk to foresters, you can talk to the Sierra Club. We all know what needs to be done."

What needs to be done is small-scale thinning projects in and around communities, as opposed to logging in the deep forest or wilderness, he said.

The new law takes effect immediately, though the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection must still establish specific rules and codes for landowners. However, it's a temporary law, extending only until January 2008, when officials will evaluate its success and decide whether to extend it.

LaMalfa's bill was inspired by the Southern California fires of 2003. But it was Shasta County's own misfortunes that were remembered Thursday.

"We've been through a lot this year," said Jones Valley Fire Chief Jan Snodgrass. "To some people it (the bill) might not be perfect, but when you can get a bill passed that everyone agrees with, that's a wonderful thing."

Another voice of support came from LaMalfa's democratic challenger for his assembly seat, Tehama County Supervisor Barbara McIver.

"I think it's beneficial to our district," McIver said Thursday.

Mary Schroeder, manager of the Western Shasta Resource Conservation District, said removing some trees would allow others more sunlight and moisture, helping them grow larger and more fire resistant.

"We do a lot of work trying to get grants" to make public lands fire-safe, she said. "But that's not all it takes. They have to do it on their own property."