On Thursday, Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA 16th District) gathered key state, federal, and local government representatives in Clovis to discuss the tree mortality emergency in California, and the need for the federal government to more urgently address the problem on California’s federal lands. Despite the efforts of the California Tree Mortality Task Force to carry out the directives in Governor Brown's 2015 Emergency Proclamation, the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region, which manages most of the national forest lands in California, still has not received sufficient funding and support at the federal level to address the unprecedented tree die-off on USDA Forest Service lands, which account for more than 66 percent of the recent mortality in the state.
RCRC member counties were well represented at the workshop, as Supervisor Kevin Cann (Mariposa) and Supervisor Randy Hanvelt (Tuolumne), both delegates to the RCRC Board of Directors, were invited and participated in the discussion. Representatives from Tulare County and Madera County were also in attendance, as well as RCRC staff.
Rep. Costa vowed to work to get support from other states for the USDA Forest Service, including tree mortality mitigation funding and other issues impacting general forest management such as securing disaster funding for wildfire suppression. The Congressman also committed to work with the Administration to help secure federal funding for increased tree mortality mitigation activities on national forest lands in California.