‘Where’s the federal government?’ Newsom calls on Trump administration to fund more wildfire prevention
Gov. Gavin Newsom is calling on the Trump administration to do more to harden California’s forests to fire as the state fast-tracks plans of its own to confront the wildfire threat. On Friday, the governor announced $72 million of funding for a slew of large-scale forest resiliency projects, primarily tree-thinning and prescribed burns. All of the projects qualify for an expedited environmental review process initiated by Newsom in March for fire safety work. … The state funding announced this week will go to 12 forestry projects, from pulling out highly combustible weeds and planting fire-resistant trees in San Bernardino County to paring back overgrown forests with proactive burns in Humboldt County. One $7 million project would create a “ring” of protected space around communities in Santa Cruz County. Another project, costing $4.2 million, seeks to improve the health of forests in the upper Mokelumne River watershed in the central Sierra Nevada.
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