Forestry: Small Timberland Owner Exemption.

The Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 prohibits a person from conducting timber operations, as defined, 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 authorizes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to exempt from some or all of those provisions of the act a person engaging in specified forest management activities, as prescribed, including the cutting or removal of trees on the person's property that eliminates the vertical continuity of vegetative fuels and the horizontal continuity of tree crowns for the purpose of reducing flammable materials and maintaining a fuel break, known as the Small Timberland Owner Exemption. The act provides that the Small Timberland Owner Exemption is applicable to small forestland owners within the northern forest district or the southern forest district who own 100 acres or less of timberland within a single planning watershed. The act limits the authority of the department to grant the Small Timberland Owner Exemption to each landowner to 3 exemptions. The act makes the Small Timberland Owner Exemption operative for a period of 5 years after the adoption of emergency regulations by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection. This bill would increase the acreage owned by a small forestland owner within the northern forest district and southern forest district to which the Small Timberland Owner Exemption is applicable to 300 acres or less. The bill would repeal the limitation on authority of the department to grant no more than 3 Small Timberland Owner Exemptions to each landowner. The bill would authorize the construction or reconstruction of temporary roads on slopes of 30 percent or less that meet certain requirements under the Small Timberland Owner Exemption.