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October 2009
California Oak Report
Times Change
Below is a regulatory petition the California Oak Foundation has sent
to the Board of Forestry concerning oak woodlands carbon emission
impacts due to firewood harvesting for commercial purposes.
October 8, 2009
Mr. George Gentry
State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection
P.O. Box 944246
Sacramento, CA 94244-2460
Re: Hardwood Rangeland Regulatory Petition
Honorable Board Members:
The California Oak Foundation (COF) writes to petition the Board of
Forestry to immediately begin the rulemaking process to regulate
firewood harvesting on hardwood rangelands for “commercial
purposes.” In accordance with Administrative Procedures Act
§ 11340.6, Oak Foundation requests that the Board:
1. Designate the appropriate hardwood rangeland native tree species as
Group C commercial species. This action is necessary for the purpose
of: (1) maintaining
hardwood rangeland resource stocking; (2) mitigating significant
greenhouse gas emissions due to the loss of forest carbon sink
associated with unmitigated hardwood rangeland firewood harvesting.
2. The purpose for the request is to establish stocking standards to
maintain hardwood rangeland resource stocking levels and to mitigate
the loss of woodland sink due to unmitigated firewood harvesting for
commercial purposes, pursuant to Forest Practice Act § 4527.
3. The authority for the requested action is granted to the Board pursuant to Forest Practice Act § 4526.
Necessity for Action
Native forest conversions are currently addressed by the Forest
Practice Act/Rules for timberlands and by the California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA) for hardwood rangelands. The only major forestland
conversion activity left unmitigated is the harvesting of firewood for
commercial purposes.
The lack of natural oak tree regeneration on hardwood rangelands has
been scientifically recognized for decades. Relying exclusively on
postharvest oak stump sprouting for regeneration stocking can easily
result in the permanent conversion of oak woodland to oak savanna. This
represents conversion from forest to non-forest, which reduces the
hardwood rangeland carbon sink.
Under the Air Resources Board Scoping Plan, the forest sector has a
target of no net loss of carbon sequestration capacity in the state's
native forests. The Scoping Plan also identified the potential to
increase the sequestration of carbon in the state's forests by 5
million metric tons of carbon dioxide, including through limiting the
conversion of forest lands. The unmitigated harvesting of hardwood
rangeland native trees species for firewood is wholly inconsistent with
established ARB and Board forestry sequestration goals.
COF believes the Board has an affirmative duty to take the public trust
into account regarding maintenance of hardwood rangeland resource
stocking levels, native forest conversion and protection of air
quality. This point is particularly relevant given that CAL FIRE is
appropriately seeking to be named a Trustee Agency in the proposed CEQA
amendments regarding native forest conversions and mitigation measures
for greenhouse gas emissions:
"CAL FIRE recommends amending the Trustee Agency (14 CCR 15386) definition to read:
(e) The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Department)
with regard to the State’s forestland, rangeland and wildland
resources that are held in trust for the people of the state by and
through the Department’s responsibilities found in PRC Sections
713, 714, 4111 through 4446 and 4511 through 4628."
Clearly, CAL FIRE has no doubts about its public trust responsibilities
regarding maintaining native forests to combat climate change. The
Board shares in this obligation.
Summary
"If certain hardwood species appear to meet the
[commercial species] test the Board may be able to say when the
classification will take place (i.e. when sufficient knowledge of
cutting impacts or stocking standard is available) but the mandates of
resource and environmental protection will sooner or later compel the
Board to bring such hardwood species within the protection and
regulation of the Act." (Attorney General 1987)
In the context of the Forest Practice Act, COF is presenting a hardwood
rangeland resource stocking issue that has public trust connotations
concerning native forest carbon dioxide sequestration and emissions.
The greenhouse gas effects of harvesting hardwood rangeland tree
species are certainly now known and scientific evidence demonstrates
reliance on oak stump sprouting for regeneration stocking after
firewood harvesting is insufficient to maintain the woodland resource
or carbon sink. In terms of the Attorney General’s 1987 hardwood
rangeland opinion, "later" has arrived.
Oak Foundation believes that upon examination of the science, fact,
policy and law associated with this petition, the Board will appreciate
the importance of establishing stocking standards for commercial
firewood harvesting practices that contribute to deforestation and
global warming.
Respectfully, Janet Cobb, President, California Oak Foundation
Don’t Be Fooled
Developers and local planning departments may claim that adherence to
the AB 32 (2006) greenhouse gas (GHG) 29 percent emissions reduction
target will make it unnecessary to analyze and mitigate oak woodlands
deforestation carbon emissions under the California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA). This fanciful CEQA interpretation is wrong and
represents an attempt to confuse the uninitiated.
First, the 29 percent reduction figure isn’t contained in AB 32,
its from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Climate Change
Scoping Plan (2008). Furthermore, AB 32 has nothing to do with CEQA
(see SB 97). AB 32’s only relevance to CEQA forest carbon
emissions analysis is the 2020 GHG reduction goal and the fact that AB
32 designates CARB as the lead state agency in establishing GHG
regulations, standards and guidelines.
Second, the CARB scoping plan also isn’t germane to project
forest emissions environmental review but it does expressly acknowledge
the key climate change role of native forests and CEQA: "Loss
of forest land to development increases greenhouse gas emissions levels
because less carbon is sequestered. When significant changes occur, the
California Environmental Quality Act is a mechanism providing for
assessment and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions."
Third, CARB has exercised its GHG authority by specifically including
forest amendments and protocols in the CEQA update that require a
project to actually measure oak woodland conversion emissions and
develop proportional mitigation measures. Conspicuously, the CEQA GHG
amendments don’t mention AB 32, CARB scoping plan or the 29
percent reduction figure. Therefore, CARB CEQA forest conversion
specifics supersede CARB scoping plan generalities.
Monterey Still Heads Oak Priority Index
Although the 2001 county oak conservation priority index
is nearly a decade old, it is still valid today. This directory was
created by Tom Gaman, a state registered forester and board member of
the California Oak Foundation. This early study was greatly refined in
the publication Oaks 2040: The Status and Future of Oaks in California (Gaman and Firman 2006).
The purpose of the priority index was to assess the relative need for
an oak conservation agenda in California’s woodland counties. It
factors acreage, hardwood size, type and density, county size,
population growth and whether oak woodlands occurred on public or
private ownership.
About 30% of the oak woodlands in the 53 million acre study area were
found in just four counties: Kern, Monterey, San Luis Obispo and
Tehama. Other counties with vast areas of oak woodlands are Calaveras,
Fresno, Mariposa, Mendocino, San Benito, Santa Clara, Santa Barbara and
Tulare. Fifty-eight percent of the land area of Calaveras County was
classified as "oak woodland" or "hardwood" (timberland oak) by CDF,
followed closely by San Benito, Santa Clara and Amador - all over 50%.
Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Tehama, Napa and Alameda counties are all
over 30% oak woodland.
The top ten counties in order of conservation priority values are
Monterey 15.3; San Luis Obispo 10.8; San Benito 10.8; Calaveras 7.6;
Santa Clara 7.0; Tehama 6.5: Mariposa 4.0; Kern 3.4; Amador 3.2 and
Mendocino 2.9.
Announcements
 The
Sierra Nevada Conservancy needs only 7,500 orders to roll out a new
state license plate design that will benefit this iconic region of
California. Proceeds from these license plates will fund conservation,
habitat restoration, recreation, and other environmental projects in
the Sierra Nevada. You can order yours for only $50 by going to www.sierralicenseplate.org. As soon as they hit the 7,500 mark, CDMV will issue the plates.
The Good News
We ask members and readers to send us good news of oak woodlands being
protected in their regions - the following is a positive response from
a member in Calabasas:
The area locally known as "Las Virgenes Area,"
situated on both sides of the Ventura (101) Freeway immediately west of
the Woodland Hills community in the southwest corner of the San
Fernando Valley, eight to twelve miles north of the beaches of Malibu.
Since 1974 over 20,000 acres of natural parklands containing many
thousands of coast live oaks and valley oaks have been purchased in
this area by the combined efforts of the:
- California
Department of Parks and Recreation (Malibu Creek State Park about
10,000 acres), including the Liberty Canyon State Natural Preserve,
which was set aside in 1981 to give special protection to part of the
southernmost stand of valley oak on the mainland.
- National
Park Service (Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area,
Cheeseboro Canyon, Palo Comado Canyon and Paramount Ranch, totaling
about 6,000 acres).
- Santa
Monica Mountains conservancy (Corral Canyon, Upper Las Virgenes Canyon,
King Gillette Ranch Park, totaling about 8,000 acres).
These 20,000-plus preserved oaks include scattered hillside specimens of Q. Agrifolia, live oak riparian forests, well-developed north-slope live oak forests, and savannas of Q. Lobata including mature specimens up to 15’ to 20’ in circumference.
The preserved oaks in these parks are especially significant because
they are "freeway close" to the very center of Los Angeles - only 45
minutes driving time for motorists and school groups under non-rush
hour and weekend driving conditions. This proximity to the
world’s tenth largest megalopolis magnifies the value of these
oaks.
Merchandise
Oak Woodland Community poster, illustrated
by Suzanne Duranceau and published by Good Nature Publishing Company.
Full color, 24” x 18” depicts oak woodland habitats and
some of the more than 300 species that rely on oaks for food and
shelter. $12, $10.80 for members, plus sales tax, shipping and
handling.
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1212 Broadway, #842 Oakland, CA 94612 Tel. 510-763-0282
Fax: 510-208-4435 oakstaff@californiaoaks.org
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