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Wendy Ridderbusch, director of state relations for the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA), recently testified at the Little Hoover Commission’s hearing on the state’s response to the tree mortality crisis in the Sierra Nevada. Ridderbusch spoke on the impact of forest health on water supply and water quality statewide. In addition to these comments, Ridderbusch also detailed ACWA’s involvement in headwaters/watershed management issues in the last several years.
In 2015, ACWA issued its Headwaters Framework, which provided comprehensive recommendations focused on achieving more resilient water resources through improved forest management policies and practices. The California Forest Watershed Alliance (CAFWA) has advocated for federal legislation to increase the pace and scale of investments in healthy forests; ACWA is a founding member of CAFWA.
Ridderbusch’s testimony expressed ACWA’s support for the use of additional Greenhouse Gas reduction Fund (Cap-and-Trade) and state General Fund dollars, as well as available Proposition 1 funding, to help fund healthy forests in 2017. expressed ACWA’s support for the use of additional Greenhouse Gas reduction Fund (Cap-and-Trade) and state General Fund dollars, as well as available Proposition 1 funding, to help fund healthy forests in 2017. Proposition 1 – approved by voters in 2014 – is a $7.5-billion-dollar general obligation water bond which includes $1.49 billion intended for multi-benefit ecosystem, watershed protection and restoration projects.
The commission also heard reports from members of the state’s Tree Mortality Task Force including Chief Ken Pimlott, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection; Mark Ghilarducci, director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services; Ashley Conrad-Saydah, deputy secretary for Climate Policy, California Environmental Protection Agency; and, Malcolm Dougherty, director of the California Department of Transportation and Jim Branham, executive officer for the Sierra Nevada Conservancy.
In meeting the goal of restoring and maintaining health forests statewide, the panelists each expressed the need for collaboration and cooperation between the various agencies. Pimlott noted, “…we have much work to do,” while Conrad -Saydah said, “…all…can get something out of benefitting California’s forests.” Ghilarducci said, “This is a Herculean effort…we want to remain out in front of the crisis.”
The hearing late last week was the first in a series of 2017 meetings the Little Hoover commission plans to hold to study the state’s response to the tree mortality crisis, including the tree die-off’s intersection with catastrophic wildfire, greenhouse gas emission and watershed health.
