Pub. Resources Code, § 4799.05

(a) (1) The director may provide grants to, or enter into contracts or other cooperative agreements with, entities, including, but not limited to, private or nongovernmental entities, Native American tribes, or local, state, and federal public agencies, for the implementation and administration of projects and programs to improve forest health and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

(2) (A) The director may authorize advance payments to a nonprofit organization, a local agency, a special district, a private forest landowner, or a Native American tribe from a grant awarded pursuant to this section. No single advance payment shall exceed 25 percent of the total grant award.

(B) (i) The grantee shall expend the funds from the advance payment within six months of receipt, unless the department waives this requirement.

(ii) The grantee shall file an accountability report with the department six months from the date of receiving the funds and every six months thereafter.

(C) (i) The department shall provide a report to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2023, on the outcome of the department’s use of advance payments.

(ii) A report submitted pursuant to this subparagraph shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

(iii) The requirement for submitting a report imposed under clause (i) is inoperative on January 1, 2027, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.

(b) Any project or program described in this section that is funded with moneys from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, created pursuant to Section 16428.8 of the Government Code, shall comply with all statutory and program requirements applicable to the use of moneys from the fund.

(c) Moneys appropriated to the department for landscape-scale projects shall be allocated as follows:

(1) To subsidize the removal of small diameter material, especially surface fuels and ladder fuels, as well as dead trees, in order to help develop markets for beneficial uses of the material, including, but not limited to, animal bedding, biochar, cross-laminated timber, mulch, oriented strand board, pulp, post, shredding, and veneer products.

(2) For multiple benefit projects, such as tree thinning, carbon sequestration, forest resilience, and improved ecological outcome projects, including, but not limited to, restoring watershed health and function and supporting biodiversity and wildlife adaptation to climate change. The department shall give grant funding priority to landowners who practice uneven aged forest management with a resilient forest of diverse age, size, and species class within the boundaries of the project and whose activities are conducted pursuant to an approved timber harvest plan, nonindustrial timber harvest plan, or working forest management plan. An application for a grant for a project under this paragraph shall include a description of how the proposed project will increase average stem diameter and provide other site-specific improvement to forest complexity, as demonstrated by the expansion of the variety of tree age classes and species persisting for a period of at least 50 years. The department shall also give funding priority to landowners who agree to long-term forest management goals prescribed by the department.

(3) For activities on national forest lands to increase tree stand heterogeneity, create forest openings of less than one acre, and increase average tree stand diameter of residual trees. Any grants provided under this paragraph shall be approved by the department, in collaboration with appropriate state agencies, including the State Air Resources Board.

(d) (1) Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) does not apply to prescribed fire, reforestation, habitat restoration, thinning, or fuel reduction projects, or to related activities included in the project description, undertaken, in whole or in part, on federal lands to reduce the risk of high-severity wildfire that have been reviewed under the federal National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 4321 et seq.) if either of the following is satisfied:

(A) The primary role of a state or local agency is providing funding or staffing for those projects.

(B) A state or local agency is undertaking those projects pursuant to the federal Good Neighbor Authority (Public Law 113-79) or a stewardship agreement with the federal government entered into pursuant to Public Law 113-79.

(2) Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) does not apply to the issuance of a permit or other project approval by a state or local agency for projects described in paragraph (1).

(3) This section does not alter, affect, or in any way diminish the authority of a state or local agency to impose mitigation measures or conditions on projects described in paragraph (1) pursuant to other laws or regulations.

(4) (A) If the lead agency, as defined in Section 21067, determines that a project is not subject to Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) pursuant to this subdivision and it determines to approve or carry out the project, the lead agency shall file a notice of exemption with the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation and with the county clerk in the county in which the project will be located in the manner specified in subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 21108 or subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 21152. The lead agency shall also post the notice of exemption on its internet website together with a description of where the documents analyzing the environmental impacts of the project under the federal National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 are available for public review.

(B) If the lead agency is not the department, the lead agency shall also provide the notice of exemption together with the information set forth in subdivision (d) of Section 4137 to the department. The department shall compile the information submitted to it pursuant to this subparagraph and post the information on the department’s internet website.

(5) On or before February 1, 2027, if the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency determines that substantial changes have been made since January 1, 2023, to the federal National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 or other federal laws that affect the management of federal forest lands in California, the secretary shall report those changes to the Legislature in accordance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

(6) This subdivision shall become inoperative on January 1, 2028.

(e) Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) does not apply to any discretionary approval necessary to carry out or implement projects funded by the Nature-Based Solutions Tribal Program or the tribal cultural burn and tribal wildfire funding authorized by Schedule (2) of Item 3540-101-0001 of Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 2021, as added by Section 46 of Chapter 240 of the Statutes of 2021. This subdivision only applies to projects carried out on lands subject to the jurisdictional control or the ownership of a California Native American tribe, as defined in Section 21073.