CNRA and CalEPA Identify First Set of Fast-tracked Projects as Part of Governor’s Emergency Proclamation on Wildfire

New Streamlined Process:
Governor Newsom issued an Emergency Proclamation (Proclamation) on March 1, 2025, to confront the severe ongoing risk of catastrophic wildfires that threatens public safety across California. The Proclamation authorizes the Secretaries of the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) and the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) to determine which projects are eligible for suspension of certain State of California statutory and regulatory requirements to expedite critical fuels reduction projects, while at the same time protecting public resources and the environment. The Task Force has established a website that includes eligibility criteria, FAQs, and a link to the application to request a determination of eligibility for suspension of relevant State of California statutory and regulatory requirements. The Secretaries also hosted a virtual briefing on the Proclamation and the process.

First Set of Approved Projects:
Just one week after applications opened, CNRA and CalEPA identified a 450-acre collaborative wildfire resilience project in Humboldt County as the first project to be determined eligible for streamlining. Three projects totaling 882 acres have been approved to date, spanning from the northern California coast to Sierra Nevada Mountains and all the way down to San Diego. Each of these projects involve tribes and other partners, natural resource managers and fire districts.  Here is an overview of the first set of approved projects.

• The Prosper Ridge Community Wildfire Resilience Project in Humboldt County is the first approved project under the Governor’s emergency proclamation on wildfire. This collaborative state, federal, and tribal project will treat nearly 450 acres with a combination of mechanical thinning, manual treatments, and prescribed fire.
• The Sycuan Wildfire Resiliency Project covers over 240 acres in San Diego County and aims to protect the Sycuan Reservation from wildfire by reducing fire hazard, ensuring defensible space, and providing safe egress with the use of 300 grazing goats.
• Vedanta Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project will reduce wildfire risk, improve forest health and enhance landscape resilience within the WUI, reducing risk of crown fires spans across 190 acres near Lake Tahoe.

These projects are focused on removing flammable dead or dying trees, creating strategic fuel breaks, creating safe egress along roadways, manual and mechanical removal of ladder fuels and beneficial fire use. Approved project location maps and documentation will be made available on the Task Force website.