The California Forest Management Task Force was established by executive order in 2018 in response to the threat and impacts of severe wildfires to forest health. The Task Force guides the implementation of the executive order, which includes increasing the scale of forest treatments (such as forest thinning, prescribed burning, or reforestation) to 500,000 acres. Over the past year, each of the Task Force working groups developed recommendations on how to increase the rate of forest treatments and expand the wood products market. The working groups are divided into: forest management and restoration, regulations, landowner outreach and education, wood utilization, and prescribed fire.

Among others, recommendations from the working groups called for sustained funding for large scale forest health treatments, streamlining the associated permitting processes, establishing new teams to provide rapid responses to all landowners post-fire, training and supporting dedicated crews for applying prescribed fire, and increasing public education on the role of bioenergy in forest heath strategies. A summary of the recommendations, as well as each working group's detailed response, are available on the Task Force website.

In the wake of a wildfire season in which over 4 million acres burned, Task Force leadership will consider these recommendations as they develop a proposed action plan for the state government.

Atmospheric Rivers (AR) supply 50% of California’s water in the form of snow and rain, which helps dampen wildfires and mitigate against drought, but can also create massive floods. In February 2019 an atmospheric river dumped 21 inches of rain on Sonoma County’s wine region, causing more than $100 million in damages in Sonoma County alone.

According to the Scripps Institute's Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, understanding atmospheric rivers is key to water management in the state. A study published in Science Advances in July showed that climate change may increase AR storm strength by 20-30%, making for much wetter events with heightened flood risk. The study also projects a high level of regional variability in storm severity, with a 15-30% predicted increase in the Serra Nevada mountains, a 25-40% increase in the Central Valley, and a more than 50% increase in Eastern California/Western Nevada.

While the research warns of increased challenges for water and flood management in California, wetter AR events may serve as drought busters, and provide a moist ground layer to deter larger-than-normal wildfires. Across working lands, utilizing a strategy called Flood-Managed Aquifer Recharge (Flood-MAR) to manage flood on scales ranging from individual farms to large operations can provide broad local and landscape-scale benefits. Nonetheless, producers should be aware of the challenges associated with increasingly wet ARs and the corresponding flood risk. Options for adaptation for agricultural communities include slowing or eliminating new development in high risk areas, restoration of flood plains, and hardening existing flood walls, dams, and spillways.

Our colleagues at the Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center have two new podcast shorts out this month -- one on beef production and one on dust storms. Check out these stories and others on the Come Rain or Shine podcast.

We encourage you to be in touch if we can be of service or assistance. Contact Hub Director Steve Ostoja and check out the California Climate Hub website for more information.

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