{"id":117664,"date":"2021-04-09T21:04:17","date_gmt":"2021-04-10T04:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=117664"},"modified":"2021-04-09T21:04:17","modified_gmt":"2021-04-10T04:04:17","slug":"governor-newsom-tours-sierra-fuel-break-highlights-agreement-with-legislative-leaders-on-536-million-wildfire-package","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=117664","title":{"rendered":"Governor Newsom Tours Sierra Fuel Break, Highlights Agreement with Legislative Leaders on $536 Million Wildfire Package"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shaver Lake, CA…Governor Gavin Newsom today visited<\/a>\u00a0a fuel break made possible by executive action in 2019 that helped firefighters respond to last year\u2019s devastating Creek Fire, and highlighted the agreement on a\u00a0$536 million legislative package<\/a>\u00a0to accelerate fire prevention projects that protect communities.<\/p>\n

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\u201cPerhaps nowhere is the threat of wildfires caused by climate change more evident than here in Fresno County, where the state\u2019s tree mortality caused by drought stress is greatest.\u00a0Fuel breaks, like the one we toured today, play a key role because they can disrupt fire behavior, slow progression and provide crews with a place to take a stand against the fire,\u201d said Governor Newsom. \u201cThis year, we are budgeting more than $1 billion, with more than $500 million in early action spending\u00a0for fire prevention\u00a0including fuel breaks, forest health and home hardening\u00a0to help protect Californians from catastrophic wildfires.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Governor Newsom visits fuel break project in Shaver Lake<\/span><\/p>\n

The legislative package builds on $323 million in early action funding for wildfire prevention included in Governor Newsom\u2019s proposed 2021-2022 budget. The package will fund forest management projects to reduce catastrophic wildfire risk and restore the ecological health of forests, fuel breaks around vulnerable communities to protect residents and property, and community hardening infrastructure to mitigate wildfire damage.\u00a0The Governor has also proposed a $1 billion investment in forest health and community fire resilience.<\/p>\n

The fuel break near the Fresno County community of Shaver Lake protected a\u00a0subdivision and was one of five projects in the area that contributed to fire suppression efforts during the Creek Fire, which ignited September 4 and burned nearly 380,000 acres. These fuel breaks were vital in disrupting fire behavior and slowing fire progression which, as designed, allowed firefighters time for additional preparation around communities and fire suppression. The five projects were a result of the Governor\u2019s executive\u00a0action<\/a>\u00a0in 2019 to accelerate fuels management on the 35 highest priority projects to protect over 200 of California\u2019s most wildfire-vulnerable communities.\u00a0All five projects were undertaken in areas with 80-90 percent tree mortality (beetle kill) caused by drought stress. Fueled by drought-stressed fuels, the Creek Fire\u2019s spread was omnidirectional,\u00a0resulting in both the fourth largest wildfire and largest single source wildfire in California\u2019s recorded history.<\/p>\n

Following the tour of the Shaver South Fuel Break project, Governor Newsom announced that he is expanding and refocusing the Forest Management Task Force to deliver on the key commitments in the\u00a0Wildfire and Forest Resilience\u00a0Action Plan<\/a>\u00a0issued in January, including the\u00a0$1 billion in investments.<\/a><\/p>\n

The reconstituted Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force will be co-chaired by California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot and U.S. Forest Service Regional Forester Randy Moore. They will be joined by CalEPA Secretary Jared Blumenfeld, Governor\u2019s Office of Planning and Research Director Kate Gordon, CAL FIRE Director Thom Porter, California State Association of Counties President James Gore, Rural County Representatives of California Chair Stacy Corless and Don Hankins of the Inter-Tribal Indigenous Stewardship Project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis relaunch of the Task Force recognizes the growing importance of strong partnerships among state, federal, local and tribal leaders to improve the health of our forests and the safety of our communities,\u201d Governor Newsom said. \u201cSince our landscapes at risk of wildfire cross multiple ownerships and jurisdictions, we need a collaborative effort to address the state\u2019s forest health crisis. I am honored that this distinguished group of federal, local and tribal leaders have agreed to join us to build upon our collective effort in developing the Action Plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Governor also appointed Patrick Wright, 59, of Grass Valley, to serve as Director of the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force. Wright is Director of the Tahoe Conservancy and has been serving as Acting Director of the Forest Management Task Force. He earlier served as Executive Director of the California Bay-Delta Authority, Deputy Secretary for Policy Development at the Natural Resources Agency and Senior Policy Advisor to the Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.<\/p>\n

The Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan builds on significant progress to date by the Newsom Administration and the Legislature to tackle California\u2019s forest health and wildfire crisis, more information can be found\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shaver Lake, CA…Governor Gavin Newsom today visited\u00a0a fuel break made possible by executive action in 2019 that helped firefighters respond to last year\u2019s devastating Creek Fire, and highlighted the agreement on a\u00a0$536 million legislative package\u00a0to accelerate fire prevention projects that protect communities. \u201cPerhaps nowhere is the threat of wildfires caused by climate change more evident […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":117665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,1,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-news","category-traffic-fire","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/newsom-fire-2nd.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/117665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}