CALIFORNIA – Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed, March 1, a state of emergency to fast-track wildfire prevention projects statewide – ahead of peak fire season.
The governor’s office said the emergency order temporarily stops some environmental rules, including CEQA and the Coastal Act, that they say is slowing down forest management projects.
These projects include vegetation and tree removal, adding fuel breaks, prescribed fire, and others.
Trump previously criticized California’s forest management
President Donald Trump previously criticized the state’s forest management policies stating that ‘Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests.’
The governor’s office said the proclamation builds on years of work to increase forest management and wildfire resilience in the state.
“These are the forest management projects we need to protect our communities most vulnerable to wildfire, and we’re going to get them done,” said Newsom.
He recently requested $40 billion in federal disaster aid from Congress to support California’s recovery from the January wildfires in Los Angeles County.
White House aide Richard Grennell said that wildfire aid will ‘come with conditions.’
“Squeezing their federal funds, making sure they don’t get funds, putting strings on them to get rid of the California Coastal Commission is going to make California better,” he said.
The proclamation lets companies do wildfire risk reduction
Along with pausing environmental rules, the proclamation lets non-state entities – companies, do approved wildfire risk reduction work more quickly and easily.
The governor is instructing state agencies to come up with ideas on how to speed up and expand the use of controlled fires to reduce wildfire risk.
The state is also improving how the California Vegetation Treatment Program (CalVTP) works so that it can handle more projects quickly and continue speeding up the approval process for large wildfire prevention efforts.
To read the full proclamation visit https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/2025-3-1.-Forest-Management-Proc.FINAL-2.pdf
