California’s wildfire crisis is worsening. Streamlining CEQA to expedite ecosystem restoration and wildfire resilience projects is a critical need and a clear policy priority of Governor Newsom’s administration. California’s Forest Carbon Plan and Shared Stewardship Agreement call for federal and state agencies to each meet a goal of treating 500,000 acres annually by 2025. How can CEQA compliance for critical wildfire resilience treatment projects be accelerated? Program EIRs are a highly effective tool in streamlining CEQA review of qualifying projects while maintaining environmental protection. The Program EIR for the California Vegetation Treatment Program (CalVTP) was certified by the Board of Forestry in December 2019. The Program EIR is designed for use by any public agency providing or receiving state funding or with land ownership and/or management responsibilities in the treatable landscape that seeks to implement vegetation treatments consistent with the CalVTP; there are more than 150 such state and local agencies. The Program EIR allows for CEQA streamlining through associated documentation, including “within the scope” findings. The streamlined approach documents a project’s environmental effects and which resource protection measures from the Program EIR would be incorporated to avoid and reduce effects, including on wildlife and habitat.

Lily Bostrom, M.S., is a senior environmental planner with over 8 years of experience in the field. Her work is focused on environmental review and permitting for projects related to forest health and management, parks and open space, and natural resource planning and enjoys working through the specific challenges and complex issues that are often met in the natural environment. Most recently, she has been involved with the implementation of the California Vegetation Treatment Program through the preparation of several Project-Specific Analysis documents for a variety of agencies and special districts each with diverse habitat conditions and resource considerations.