Section § 71365

Explanation

This section allows the Natural Resources Agency and the California Environmental Protection Agency to create a detailed plan to restore forests and watersheds that feed the Oroville, Shasta, and Trinity Reservoirs. The aim is to enhance water quality, supply reliability, forest carbon storage, wildlife habitat, and climate adaptation. The plan will highlight restoration needs and prioritize investments. Furthermore, these agencies can propose a pilot project for streamlined permitting of restoration activities. There's also a Headwaters Restoration Account in the General Fund, which can receive funds allocated by the Legislature for these restorations.

(a)Copy CA Public Resources Code § 71365(a)
(1)Copy CA Public Resources Code § 71365(a)(1) To advance the goals of Item 0540-101-3228 of Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 2018, the Natural Resources Agency and the California Environmental Protection Agency may jointly develop and submit to the Legislature, in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code, a plan for forest and watershed restoration investments for the drainages that supply the Oroville, Shasta, and Trinity Reservoirs.
(2)CA Public Resources Code § 71365(a)(2) The spatially explicit plan authorized under paragraph (1) is intended to establish a comprehensive understanding of restoration needs and prioritize investment opportunities that will improve watershed function and resilience, water quality and supply reliability, forest carbon stores, wildlife habitat, and climate adaptation.
(b)CA Public Resources Code § 71365(b) Those agencies may jointly develop and propose to the relevant policy committees of the Legislature a pilot project for the coordinated, multiagency permitting of watershed restoration activities in the watersheds described in subdivision (a), as outlined in subdivision (c) of Section 108.5 of the Water Code.
(c)CA Public Resources Code § 71365(c) The Headwaters Restoration Account is hereby established in the General Fund. Funds may be deposited into the account and used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of this section.