Zone Zero:
CA Draft Regulations

Submit Public Comments to: PublicComments@bof.ca.gov Template email: Subject: Political influence over the Committee work Dear Zone 0 Advisory Committee Members, I am writing to express my deep concern that political pressure may be applied to the Committee in ways that will severely delay or altogether halt its work. The testimony by firefighters and wildfire scientists presented to the Committee has been overwhelmingly consistent in favor of strict Zone 0 options. Opposing testimony has not provided peer-reviewed scientific evidence, or has misunderstood the regulations, which will not require significant tree removal. Nonetheless, the Committee is faced with great pressure that may be difficult to resist. Yet, without strong regulations issues by the Board of Forestry (BoF), few if any local jurisdictions in the LRA will be able to research and assemble, on their own, adequate WUI wildfire regulations. It is with great empathy for your position that we suggest splitting the issue into parallel paths. We strongly urge the Board to promptly move forward with a strictly science-based version of the regulation while also providing additional time to study the problem of implementation at the local level. Providing certainty regarding the standard and also more time for locally developed implementation strategies that meet community-specific mitigation needs addresses the competing imperatives the Board and our state currently faces: local jurisdictions will still be able to adopt them now if they have the will; In the next five years, it will become clear if there is a difference in wildfire impact between those local jurisdictions that have adopted these regulations, and those (the large majority) that have not—we are certain there will be; it will also become clear if the adoption of the BoF-issued regulations has consequences on the availability and the cost of insurance—we are certain there will be. There cannot be reasonable disagreement with this option by opponents of the BoF’s Zone 0 direction, since AB1455 gives local jurisdictions the ability to self-certify their own alternative measures, making them able to forever avoid adoption the BoF’s standard regulations. We understand the pressure you are under: thank you for your tenacious leadership! The Board’s role is to establish the standard, not implement it. Local agencies will continue to be held in a state of uncertainty so long as the Board’s position on the standard remains in flux. Sincerely, [Your Full Name] [Address] [email] [phone number]