On March 1, Governor Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency to expedite critical fuels reduction projects to address “catastrophic wildfire risks created by forest conditions across the state.”

The Governor’s proclamation would suspend state rules and regulations, including CEQA and the California Coastal Act, to the extent necessary to expedite critical fuels reduction projects.

Critical Fuels Reduction Projects

Eligible critical fuels reduction projects must include, as their primary objective, at least one of the following activities:

  1. Removal of hazardous, dead, and/or dying trees;
  2. Removal of vegetation:
  • For strategic fuel breaks identified in approved fire prevention plans;
  • For community defensible space;
  • Along roadways, highways and freeways to create safer evacuation routes and reduce roadside ignitions;
  • Using cultural traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and/or prescribed burns;
  • To maintain existing fuel breaks or fuel modification projects

Requirements

The proclamation contains additional measures to ensure that streamlined projects balance expedited fuels reduction with environmental protection, including requirements that:

  1. The Secretary of CalEPA or Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) must first determine whether a proposed project would be eligible for streamlining, based on whether the project would accelerate critical fuels reduction projects while protecting public health and the environment.
  2. Projects must be carried out in accordance with the State Environmental Protection Plan, or a comparable plan describing how the project would achieve that balance.
  3. The Board of Forestry and Fire Protection must take immediate steps to update the California Vegetation Treatment Program Environmental Impact Report, in consultation with CNRA and the public, to continue promoting expedited review for large wildfire risk reduction treatments.

For more information, a copy of the Governor’s proclamation can be found here. Please also visit our website for key points from the Governor’s related Executive Order issued January 12, 2025 here.