Wildfire Mitigation And Recovery

The act requires the state forest service, on and after September 1, 2022, to develop a publicly accessible statewide carbon accounting framework that yields carbon stock and flux estimates for:

• Ecosystems by county and forest cover type; and
• Wood products.

The state forest service must also develop a forest carbon co-benefit framework for project-level forest management practices, including wildfire mitigation. The state forest service must use this framework to train practitioners in adaptive management practices to be incorporated into current forest management practices, including wildfire mitigation. The state forest service must provide technical expertise to assist industry and landowners with carbon inventories and monitoring.

The act also allows money from the existing healthy forests and vibrant communities fund to be used for new purposes, including the new statewide carbon accounting framework.

For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, the act:

• Transfers $3,000,000 and appropriates $95,407 from the general fund to the healthy forests and vibrant communities fund;
• Transfers $2,200,000 from the general fund to the forest restoration and wildfire risk mitigation grant program cash fund; and
• Transfers $2,00,000 from the general fund to the wildfire mitigation capacity development fund.
  (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)