California governor Jerry Brown has signed an executive order that would help mitigate the dangers of wildfires in the state.
The decision comes as California recovers from last year’s devastating wildfire season – considered the most destructive season in the state’s history, causing more than $13 billion in damages.
Brown’s executive order calls for fast-tracking forest management procedures, such as reducing dense strands of trees and using controlled fires to burn down thick brush. Brown intends to double the area of forest managed by such procedures to 500,000 acres within five years.
The order also calls for the simplification of the process to allow private landowners to thin trees and for the building industry to utilize more wood products in their projects.
Brown’s office has confirmed that a Forest Management Task Force will be convened in the weeks to come to help implement the order.
The Associated Press reported the governor’s budget revision for May includes $96 million to support the order, in addition to the $160 million he had previously proposed for fire protection and forest work in the upcoming fiscal year.
In the past four years alone, California witnessed eight of the worst wildfires on state record. Those fires included the Thomas Fire last December which burned 282,000 acres and a series of blazes in Northern California that claimed the lives of over 40 people and destroyed thousands of homes.
