Title
Authorize the General Manager to initiate support for Bill HR471, the Fix Our Forests Act. (Staff: Ara Azhderian)
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Monterey County Water Resources Agency Board of Directors:
Authorize the General Manager to initiate support for Bill HR471, the Fix Our Forests Act.
SUMMARY/DISCUSSION:
On January 16, 2025, a bipartisan group of representatives, including Congressman Panetta, reintroduced HR471, which passed the House during the 118th Congress but failed to garner Senate attention. The bill encourages more active management of federal forest lands, improves the regulatory process for forest health projects on federal lands, promotes federal, state, and local government collaboration, coordinates federal grant programs to better serve communities in high fire risk areas, and expands the use of technologies to address wildfire threats. The bill was again passed by the House on January 23, 2025, and is currently looking for a Senate sponsor.
While the bill focuses largely on federal lands, it provides opportunities for expanded federal, state, and local collaboration, including sharing of tools and information, to improve fireshed and watershed management, water source and “at risk community” protection, and potential grant funding to minimize the risks of wildfire exposure, including loss of life and structures. Fireshed management areas may include non-federal land and rangelands. The proposed Water Source Protection Program aims to protect and restore watershed health, water supply and quality, municipal or agricultural water supply systems, and water-related infrastructure. The bill also aims to establish a Community Wildfire Risk Reduction Program to, in part, support interagency coordination in reducing wildfire risk, advance research, including support for non-federal research partners, encourage public-private partnerships to perform fuel management activities, and provide technical and financial a...
Click here for full text