Council Joins Wildfire Solutions Coalition, Stays on Top of Delta Water Plan

California’s wildfire and forestry management workforce needs to double from its current 65k workers if the state is going to properly scale up wildfire risk reduction efforts across its forests, according to a special presentation from Sierra Business Council President & CEO Steve Frisch at Monday’s Water & Climate Resilience Committee meeting aboard the Klamath. Right-sizing California’s forest management sector is critical to reducing wildfires that have in recent years cost hundreds of lives, caused billions of dollars in damages, counteract GHG reduction progress, and devastated California’s insurance market. To affect this change, the Bay Area Council is joining the Sierra Business Council and the Wildfire Solutions Coalition in advocating for at least 10% of California’s future Cap-and-Invest revenues be dedicated to regionally appropriate wildfire resilience and mitigation actions.

The Committee also discussed progress on the implementation of the Bay Delta Water Quality Control Plan, a regulatory action by the State Water Resources Control Board to require Bay Area water users to leave more supply in rivers. The Bay Area Council strongly opposed the plan leading up to its adoption in 2018 for undermining the region’s drought resilience and for having inadequate protections over Bay Area environmental flows and is today encouraging state agencies to work with regional water districts to incorporate both flow and non-flow measures into a comprehensive plan for both the San Joaquin and the Sacramento River that reduces drought risks for California cities.

To engage with the Bay Area Council’s Water & Climate Resilience Committee please contact Senior Vice President, Public Policy, Adrian Covert.