California Emergency Order Aims to Lower Fire Risk by Speeding Up Removal of Brush, Dead Trees

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order fast-tracks wildfire projects by suspending environmental requirements in vulnerable communities.

Cal Fire engines line the Ortega Highway in El Cariso Village, Calif., on Sep. 16, 2024. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

California Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency on March 1 to fast-track forest management projects in hopes of protecting communities from catastrophic wildfires.

The action was taken weeks after the Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed more than 16,000 homes and buildings in Los Angeles County.

“This year has already seen some of the most destructive wildfires in California history, and we’re only in March,” Newsom said in a statement Saturday. “Building on unprecedented work cutting red tape and making historic investments—we’re taking action with a state of emergency to fast-track critical wildfire projects even more.”

The forest management projects are expected to protect the most vulnerable communities, Newsom added.

Saturday’s emergency proclamation is expected to cut red tape by suspending the state’s strict Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requirements and the Coastal Act, which dictates how land is used along the coast. The environmental requirements within these laws are “slowing down critical forest management projects,” according to Newsom’s office.

Newsom’s proclamation says a vast “tree die-off” that started a decade ago has created extremely dangerous fire risk.

Former Gov. Jerry Brown proclaimed a state of emergency in 2015 and another in 2017 after an unprecedented number of trees began to die following severe drought and a bark beetle infestation.

In September 2017, the U.S. Forest Service estimated that 102 million trees had died in the state, according to the proclamation. The tree deaths made large regions of the state more prone to wildfires and raised the threat of erosion across watersheds.

Brown’s proclamation mobilized all available state resources to mitigate the crisis.

At the end of 2017, the Forest Service estimated the number of trees that had died grew to 129 million on 89 million acres in California.

Damage from the Airport Fire in El Cariso Village, Calif., on Sep. 16, 2024. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an emergency proclamation March 1 to speed up fuels reduction projects in California. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

“The dead trees continue to pose a hazard to people and critical infrastructure, mostly centered in the central and southern Sierra Nevada region of the state,” the Forest Service said in a release at the time.

A Tree Mortality Task Force, supported by the state, removed over 1 million dead trees in 2017, the Forest Service reported.

The state’s latest survey shows the number of dead trees continues to rise. The state estimated 237 million trees had died between 2010 and 2023 as a result of higher temperatures and less available water, making the trees more vulnerable to insects and diseases.

The California Vegetation Treatment Program, created by the state in 2019, has approved 106 projects to clean up the dead trees and fire fuels, including prescribed burns, mechanical and manual treatments, and herbicide application.

The projects eligible for Newsom’s emergency order include removal of hazardous, dead, or dying trees, and removal of vegetation for three reasons: to create a fuel break, to create defensible space, and to make travel safer.

Also eligible is removal of vegetation for cultural burning or prescribed fire fuels reductions, and for maintenance of existing fuel breaks.

The order will allow private entities to conduct fuels reduction with expedited approval. It also directs state agencies to submit recommendations for increasing the pace and scale of prescribed burns.

The projects still must balance fuels reduction with environmental protection, according to the emergency order.