OUTCOME: Fire Resilient Forests

Problem

The capacity of foresters, processors, and loggers has been overwhelmed by the increase in high-severity fire and the mortality of millions of acres of forest in the past five years. The increased urgency to thin dense, overstocked forests has created a demand for processing forest biomass residuals at the same time that markets are flooded with dead timber from salvage operations. Current infrastructure and local capacity cannot handle the current supply of available forest biomass residuals. Lack of long-term feedstock contracts for 3rd-party certified sustainable forest products and declining value for wood are other significant problems affecting the economics of the timber industry.

Solution

Timber Industry - Support an economically viable timber industry that enhances and promotes healthy, fire resilient forests, biodiversity, and watersheds.

Background and Context

Forests and forest managers in the North Coast region face multiple stressors, including a century of fire suppression, a changing climate, drought, pests, and diseases, coupled with forest management practices that have promoted overly dense forests. At the ecosystem scale, these stressors are contributing to conditions for large, high-severity wildfires fires that can irrevocably damage some forests, destroy rural communities, and threaten the many ecosystem services forests provide. An economically viable timber industry, a skilled local workforce for jobs in the woods, production of 3rd-party sustainably certified wood products, and other beneficial uses of forest biomass residuals from hazardous fuel reduction could contribute to maintaining healthy forests and vibrant local economies. Focused regional strategies and investments are needed.

Recommendations

Multi-benefit projects that balance economic development with ecosystem health are needed to address the state of the North Coast’s forests and communities. A long-term ecologically and financially viable timber industry can help reduce wildfire risk by treating vast acreages of overstocked forests while providing markets for forest biomass residuals, while contributing to thriving rural economies. NCRP and its partners are working to catalyze an increase in the pace, scope, and scale of forest and community health activities, and supports entities working with commercial timberland owners, operators, and small forest landowners to achieve these goals. 

Management of California forestlands for timber production should focus on connecting enhanced habitat, ecosystem function, and watershed values with productive timberlands. Several policy changes, regulatory reforms, and grant-based incentives could help to connect private forest management or Tribal stewardship with public trust watershed and ecosystem function:

Actions

Support scaling up innovative projects that bundle hazardous fuel treatments with revenue-generating harvest opportunities and new harvest technologies such as Cut-to-Length harvesting. See NCRP Demonstration Project Forest Fuel Hazard Reduction and Oak Woodland Restoration – Humboldt Redwood Company.

  • In coordination with state and federal initiatives such as the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan or the NRCS EQIP Program, develop funding and incentives to increase ecologically and financially sustainable timber harvest and associated infrastructure, which may include improved permitting, landscape-scale projects across multiple ownerships, and incentives for managing for stand and landscape diversity, increased carbon storage, and biodiversity.
  • Complete the process at the state level to improve permitting by synchronizing the Timber Harvest Plan review process with the review processes for timber harvest permits associated with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. (See Capacity: Smart & Efficient Permitting Solution)
  • Examine the feasibility of payments for ecosystem services to forest landowners that allow for ecologically-based forestry operations.
  • Promote multi landowner or watershed NTMP agreements.
  • Promote and support public and private forest management agreements that enable coordinated and collaborative management and planning efforts across land ownership boundaries to enhance forest and watershed health.

Increase funding for mechanisms that help keep working forests in sustainable timber production, including Working Forest Conservation Easements that involve on-the-ground improvements to create wildfire-resilient forests. At both state and federal levels, increase Forest Legacy budgets and funding coordination across agencies.

Explore modifying the Forest Protocol to include smaller landowners (500 acres or less) to participate in the California cap-and-trade program for forests. Current protocols exclude over 90% of non-corporate forest lands, which are held in parcels < 500 acres.

Support state Safe Harbor Agreements or Management Plans for listed species in watersheds or regions to protect non-industrial landowners that commit to habitat protection measures.

Support CDFW and USFWS Natural Community Conservation and Local Assistance Grants (NCCP) Program, the Endangered Species Act Habitat Conservation Planning Grant Program (HCP) (Nontraditional Section 6), and the nonregulatory Regional Conservation Investment Strategies Program (RCIS). These landscape-level planning tool programs can be utilized in counties and across watersheds.

  • Support and create policies that incentivize wood substitution for concrete/steel/insulation in the building industry and other public works (transportation safety, sound and visual barriers, remediation and mitigation, etc.)
  • Explore and promote pathways to overcome transportation barriers to facilitate production in areas not near a production facility.
  • Strengthen partnerships between the wood products industry, rural economic development organizations, and academic institutions.
  • Explore and analyze barriers and pathways for increased public/private investments in sustainably produced timber and wood product utilization, including increased market competition at the regional and statewide scales.
  • Increase access to larger-scale portable air curtain burners and/or biochar processing equipment in areas where wood recovery is not environmentally or economically feasible and where disposal and/or conversion of hazardous fuel will result in greater fire and ecological benefits.
  • Support statewide outreach regarding the importance of buying local, 3rd-party certified sustainable wood products and support for multiple certification options.

Support efforts for increased funding for the USFS Wood Energy Technical Assistance and similar state programs.

Conduct regional economic/ecosystem services analysis of workforce, timber industry, tourism, and values those bring to the North Coast region.

Support actions identified in the Fire-Resilient Forests, Capacity, Beneficial Fire, and Permitting solutions to build capacity that will also support forest health management commercially.

Create a workforce development plan and support community college vocational-tech to increase workforce (both forestry and heavy equipment) (See Capacity: Workforce Development Solution).

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