80135. (a) Of the amount made available pursuant to Section 80130, fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) shall be available to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, except as provided in subdivision (c), for projects that provide ecological restoration of forests. Projects may include, but are not limited to, forest restoration activities that include hazardous fuel reduction, postfire watershed rehabilitation, prescribed or managed burns, acquisition of forest conservation easements or fee interests, and forest management practices that promote forest resilience to severe wildfire, climate change, and other disturbances. The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection shall achieve geographic balance with the moneys allocated pursuant to this section and may, where appropriate, include activities on lands owned by the United States.
(b) Not less than 30 percent of the amount available pursuant to this section shall be allocated for urban forestry projects pursuant to Section 4799.12. The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection shall allocate no less than 50 percent of the moneys allocated pursuant to this subdivision for the expansion of the urban forestry program to previously underserved local entities in order to achieve geographic balance.
(c) Of the amount subject to this section, 50 percent shall be allocated directly to the Sierra Nevada Conservancy to administer projects pursuant to this section for purposes of implementing the Sierra Nevada Watershed Improvement Program. For purposes of this section, the Sierra Nevada Conservancy may allocate funds to the California Tahoe Conservancy for projects within the jurisdiction of the California Tahoe Conservancy.
(Added by Stats. 2017, Ch. 852, Sec. 3. Approved in Proposition 68 at the June 5, 2018, election.)
Structure California Code