Forest resources: timber harvesting plans.

The Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practices Act of 1973 prohibits a person from conducting timber harvesting operations unless a timber harvesting plan prepared by a professional forester has been submitted to, and approved by, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection pursuant to the act. Existing law authorizes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to exempt from all or some of the requirements of the act a person engaged in certain limited forest management activities, including, until January 1, 2013, the harvesting of trees that eliminate the vertical continuity of vegetative fuels and the horizontal continuity of tree crowns, for the purpose of reducing the rate of fire spread, duration and intensity, fuel ignitability, or ignition of tree crowns. This bill would extend that exemption until January 1, 2014.