(The Center Square) – Efforts to reduce wildfires in California are converging with this week’s executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom.<\/p>\n
\u201cCalifornia is not letting up when it comes to confronting the wildfire crisis \u2013 especially as [President Donald] Trump\u2019s cuts slow down critical wildfire safety projects,\u201d Newsom said in an Oct. 29 press release<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ve made tangible progress, but much more is needed. I\u2019m tasking state agencies to pull all the levers and gear up for using \u2018good fire\u2019 this year to help protect communities and restore healthy landscapes.\u201d<\/p>\n Newsom\u2019s executive order<\/a> for departments in the state government to ramp up efforts to reduce wildfire risk come on the heels of the federal government\u2019s reduction of the U.S. Forest Service<\/a>, which has its own firefighting agency<\/a>. Among other requirements, Newsom\u2019s executive order mandates that collaborative efforts be made to update prescribed fire permitting, address air quality concerns caused by wildfire smoke and allow agencies to carry out prescribed fire projects.<\/p>\n The push to expand wildfire fighting efforts is the latest in Newsom\u2019s plans to make California more wildfire-resistant. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection awarded $72 million in May to support land management projects that aimed to restore forest health and enhance long-term carbon storage, according to a\u00a0press release<\/a> issued from the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n CalFire officials were unavailable to answer The Center Square\u2019s questions on Friday.<\/p>\n According to Newsom\u2019s office, prescribed fires – essentially, controlled wildfires set intentionally to reduce the long-term risk of far more damaging wildfires – have been practiced for millennia by Native American tribes and cultural practitioners. Managed fires of this nature regenerate plant life, allow for hunting and gathering and control temperatures that assist fisheries, among other benefits.<\/p>\n Those practices were outlawed over the last 200 years, the press release from Newsom\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n \u201cFor thousands of years, tribal communities have utilized fire to keep our forests healthy,” Wade Crowfoot, the secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency, said in the press release. “Now we\u2019re following their lead to use safe, controlled fire to protect our communities and restore health to our environment. This is a watershed moment for California as we fully embrace these practices successfully used for centuries to help prevent catastrophic wildfire.\u201d<\/p>\n Crowfoot and other officials from the California Department of Natural Resources were not available to answer questions on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n State officials have used this method of reducing the risk of wildfires already. According to the governor\u2019s office, 260,000 acres of land in California were treated with prescribed burns, and CalFire completed its goal of treating 50,000 acres of land with prescribed burns in May.<\/p>\n The California Department of Natural Resources recently highlighted in an Oct. 29 e-newsletter that 159 projects to reduce wildfire risk were expedited this year, building on the work of 2,000 wildfire mitigation and forest resilience projects overseen in recent years by the California Wildfire & Forest Resilience Task Force<\/a>.<\/p>\n Task force officials were not available for comment on Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cCultural and prescribed burns offer proven strategies for managing wildfire risks across our state’s unique ecosystems,” said Secretary for Environmental Protection Yana Garcia. \u201cCalifornia will intensify its fight to protect communities from the devastating effects of climate change. This includes upholding time-honored practices that have safeguarded our people and natural resources for generations.\u201d.<\/p>\n