Forestry: timber harvesting.

(1) The Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973, among other things, prohibits a person from conducting timber operations unless a timber harvesting plan prepared by a registered professional forester has been submitted to, and approved by, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The act defines "timber operations" as the cutting or removal or both of timber or other solid wood forest products from timberlands for commercial purposes, together with all incidental work, including site preparation that involves disturbances of soil or burning of vegetation following timber harvesting activities conducted after January 1, 1988. The act also requires rules and regulations adopted by the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to apply to the conduct of timber operations that includes site preparation involving disturbances of soil or burning of vegetation following timber harvesting activities conducted after January 1, 1988. This bill would delete the January 1, 1988, date limitation on the definition of "timber operations." The bill would also delete the January 1, 1988, date limitation with respect to rules and regulations relating the site preparation work. (2) The act requires the board to divide the state into not less than 3 districts by taking into account differing physical characteristics, as provided. The act requires district technical advisory committees to advise the board in the establishment of district forest practice rules to govern timber operations on timberlands within the district. This bill would repeal and delete provisions relating to the district technical advisory committees. (3) The act requires a timber owner, defined as a person who owns timberland or cutover land, among other types of land, to file a timber harvesting plan with the department on all or any part of timberland that he or she plans to harvest for timber. The act defines "cutover land" to mean land that has borne a crop of commercial timber from which at least 70% of the merchantable original growth timber stand has been removed by logging or destroyed by fire, among other things. This bill would repeal the definition of, and delete the reference to, cutover land. (4) The act requires timberland harvested between January 1, 1974, and the adoption of stocking standards, to be classified as adequately stocked if as a result of stocking that took place following the timber harvest, specified minimum standards are met. The act requires all stocking requirements that were in existence prior to January 1, 1974, to remain in full force and effect for timberland that was harvested prior to that date. The act also classifies areas as acceptably stocked if it contains at least 5 countable trees for each tree that was harvested, if the department had determined that the area was not acceptably stocked prior to any timber harvesting activities that took place between the effective date of the act and the adoption of permanent stocking standards. The bill would delete and repeal these provisions. (5) Existing law requires the board to adopt rules for control of timber operations that will result or threaten to result in unreasonable effects on the beneficial uses of the waters of the state. Existing law requires the rules to include rules for, among other things, minimizing the effects of erosion on watercourses and lakes by doing certain things, including maintenance of installed drainage facilities and soil stabilization treatments on skid trails, roads, and landings, as provided. The bill would delete the requirement that the board adopt rules relating to minimizing the effects of erosion on watercourses and lakes by maintenance of installed drainage facilities and soil stabilization treatments on skid trails, roads, and landings, as provided. (6) Existing law authorizes the board to exempt from the act a person engaged in forest management whose activities are limited to certain things, including the cutting, removal, or sale of timber or other solid wood forest products from the species Taxus brevifolia (Pacific Yew) , as provided. This bill would delete this authorization. (7) The bill would make other technical changes to the act.