Governor Newsom launches 'Strategic Plan for Expanding the Use of Beneficial Fire'
REDDING, Calif. — The governor's task force is launching a new plan to ramp up wildfire mitigation efforts in California.
It lays out a path for state, federal, and tribal partners to promote the use of 'beneficial fires,' up to 400,000 acres annually, by 2025 to help make the forests more resilient. This includes launching an online system to streamline the review and approval for prescribed burns.
It also enables tribes to revitalize cultural burning practices.
"I think the significance of the plan is really a major step forward for the state and actually our federal and local partners as well," CSU Chico professor Don Hankins said. "It's starting to lay the groundwork for us to really advance the placement of fire back into the landscape, so it's not to say we didn't have the ability to put the fire into the landscape, but what this does is really set targets around acreage and funding and reduction of barriers like permitting and things like that which are part of this, which is truly a significant step."
The plan is backed by the governor's $1.5 billion investment in forest health and wildfire resilience.
For more information on the wildfire mitigation plan, click here.
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