CalVTP Update

The Board of Forestry and Fire Protection is preparing an update to the CalVTP Program EIR.

On March 1, 2025, Governor Newsom issued an emergency proclamation that directs the Board to “take immediate steps to update the [CalVTP Program EIR]… to increase the CalVTP’s efficiency and utilization, in order to continue promoting rapid environmental review for large wildfire risk reduction treatments.” According to the Board’s experience with CalVTP implementation and feedback received from project proponents, implementing entities, regulatory and resource agencies, and others, the following categories of updates have been preliminarily identified. This list is not comprehensive, and more updates to the program will be identified through planned outreach as directed by the emergency proclamation and required under CEQA

• Expand the treatable landscape into areas suitable for vegetation treatment regardless of fire suppression responsibility designation.
• Incorporate in the program description the disposition of biomass generated by vegetation treatment, as necessary, including its commercial sale for the purpose of cost recovery.
• Recognize the dual objectives of cultural resource protection and ecological restoration through vegetation management activities that integrate Indigenous knowledge and tribal ecological knowledge.
• Clarify and revise CalVTP standard project requirements and mitigation measures to promote their efficient implementation while protecting environmental resources.
• Increase the efficiency of the Project-Specific Analysis preparation process for later activities under the CalVTP.

Details on the Notice of Preparation (NOP) for the update to the Program EIR will be posted here, along with the date and time of a public scoping meeting. 

AB 52 Tribal Consultations

The AB 52 Tribal Consultation Period opened on June 22, 2025, when over 170 California tribes were contacted regarding the opportunity to consult with the Board of Forestry & Fire Protection on the CalVTP PEIR Update. AB 52 Tribal Consultations are underway, and Tribal Round Table Sessions were conducted on August 20, 2025, and tribal consultations have been ongoing. Initial tribal consultations must be requested and scheduled by Friday, December 19, 2025.

Contact Kristina.Wolf@bof.ca.gov  if you are a tribal representative and wish to consult with the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection regarding the CalVTP Update.

CalVTP 2019 PEIR Litigation Updates

On January 28, 2020, California Chaparral Institute and Endangered Habitats League filed a petition for writ of mandate in San Diego County Superior Court challenging the 2019 CalVTP PEIR, alleging CEQA violations focused on analysis of chaparral/coastal sage scrub type conversion and resulting relative wildfire risk. The Superior Court ruled in November 2023, denying the petition, concluding the Board’s analysis met the substantial-evidence standard under CEQA for all issues, and upholding the PEIR.  Petitioners appealed the Superior Court decision. 

On June 30, 2025, the California Court of Appeal reversed the lower court’s ruling. The appellate court held that substantial evidence did not support the Board’s findings that the CalVTP would avoid adverse effects of native chaparral and coastal sage scrub type conversion, including a potential increase in flammability of non-native grasses invading project sites after treatments. The appellate court remanded the case back to the Superior Court with directions to grant the writ and describe requirements for an adequate analysis of type conversion and its adverse effects. The appellate court also directed the Superior Court to decide if any specific vegetation treatment projects should be suspended pending the analysis directed by the writ. With the current CalVTP PEIR Update underway, the Board is seeking to incorporate analysis directed by the writ into the PEIR Update.

 The Fourth District Court of Appeal’s May 30, 2025 decision (as modified June 30, 2025) regarding the CalVTP PEIR identified a CEQA inadequacy in an analysis topic: potential for type conversion of chaparral and coastal sage scrub subject to vegetation treatment and associated wildfire-risk effects. As directed by the Superior Court’s Judgment After Appeal (judgment) and Peremptory Writ of Mandate (writ), the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection will address this CEQA inadequacy in the forthcoming CalVTP PEIR Update. The Court has further directed that proposed CalVTP projects that would treat chaparral or coastal sage scrub may not proceed while the CalVTP PEIR Update is underway, except for certain critical safety projects falling within a limited set of treatment categories, as described below.

Use of the 2019 CalVTP PEIR

Approved projects: Vegetation treatment projects approved prior to May 30, 2025 may proceed; treatment projects approved before this date are not restricted by the writ.

Proposed projects: For proposed projects, until the CalVTP PEIR Update is complete and the writ is discharged, the 2019 CalVTP PEIR may not be used for CEQA compliance for proposed vegetation treatment in chaparral or coastal sage scrub, with certain exceptions for specific categories of treatment the Court found to be severable from the writ’s prohibitions (i.e., treatment may not proceed in chaparral and coastal sage scrub except as provided in the specific, limited allowances directed in the writ and listed below).

Currently Proposed Projects That May Proceed Under the 2019 CalVTP PEIR

Vegetation treatment that would not occur in chaparral or coastal sage scrub may continue to use the 2019 CalVTP PEIR for CEQA compliance. Definitions of chaparral and coastal sage scrub follow the most current online edition of the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) Manual of California Vegetation, which are further described BELOW

For proposed projects that would treat chaparral or coastal sage scrub, proponents may not rely on the 2019 CalVTP PEIR for CEQA compliance unless their proposed treatments meet one or more of the following categories identified by the Court.

1. Limited-width, strategic fuel breaks. New linear, accessible strategic fuel breaks located along ridgelines, roadsides, and in other critical defensive locations determined by responsible fire agencies, provided that long-term maintenance of flammable nonnative vegetation is included. Such fuel break treatments shall be the minimum width necessary to provide for firefighter safety, operational procedures, and back firing operations, and shall not exceed 300 feet in width.
2. Maintenance of existing treatments. Maintenance of existing fuel breaks and prior treatment areas to control flammable, non-native invasive plants.
3. Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) treatments. WUI fuel reduction treatment located within 1,000 feet of the Interface layer mapped in the CAL FIRE WUI layer (WUI25_1), provided that long-term maintenance of flammable, non-native vegetation is included, with a preference for hand-thinning.
4. Ecological Restoration treatments. Ecological restoration treatments consisting of removal of flammable, non-native vegetation.
5. Post-fire treatments. Treatments where the stand of chaparral or coastal sage scrub has a state rarity rank of S4 (apparently secure) or S5 (demonstrably secure) according to CDFW (https://wildlife.ca.gov/Data/VegCAMP/Natural-Communities#lists), and has generated following a fire within the last 15 years in an area previously characterized by woodland or forest before the fire, as evidenced by satellite imagery and as defined in accordance with the Key to Main Vegetation Categories in the CNPS Manual of California Vegetation.

Next Steps

In the forthcoming CalVTP PEIR Update, the Board will address the CEQA inadequacy identified by the Court of Appeal. Once the Board certifies the CalVTP PEIR Update, it will inform the Superior Court and seek to have the writ discharged. After discharge of the writ, project proponents may approve and implement projects in compliance with the certified CalVTP PEIR Update and its Standard Project Requirements and Mitigation Measures, including treatments in all covered habitat types.

Definitions

• Chaparral: Dominated by evergreen, drought-tolerant shrubs that are typically 1.5-3 m tall (Barbour, Keeler-Wolf, and Schoenherr 2007) with stiff branches, and sclerophyllous (i.e., hard leaved) leaves
  • Chaparral alliances are listed in level 1, 2 of the Key to Shrublands in the California Native Plant Society’s (CNPS) Manual of California Vegetation. This definition does not include alliances dominated by coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis).
  • Dominant plant species may include manzanita (Arctostaphylos spp.), ceanothus (Ceanothus spp.), chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum), redshank (Adenostoma sparsifolium), sugarbush (Rhus ovata), scrub oak species (e.g., Quercus berberdifolia, Q. Dumosa, Q. durata), Mission manzanita (Xylococcus bicolor), mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus), hollyleaf cherry (Prunus ilicifolia), redberry (Rhamnus crocea), toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) and evergreen buckthorn (Rhamnus ilicifolia).
    
    
• Coastal sage scrub: Dominated by drought-tolerant, deciduous, lower-growing (typically 1-1.5 m tall) (Barbour, Keeler-Wolf, and Schoenherr 2007), shallow-rooted, aromatic shrubs with soft, flexible branches, and soft, deciduous leaves that drop off in response to drought
  • Coastal sage scrub alliances are listed in level 15 and 15’ under 1, 2’, 12’, 13’, 14 of the Key to Shrublands in the CNPS Manual of California Vegetation. This definition does not include alliances dominated by coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis) or nonnative species (e.g., broom [Genista monspessulana, Cytisus scoparius], Cotoneaster spp.).
  • Dominant or diagnostic plant species may include: California sagebrush (Artemisia californica), white sage (Salvia apiana), black sage (Salvia mellifera), purple sage (Salvia leucophylla), California brittle bush (Encelia californica), buckwheat (Eriogonum spp.), monkey flower (Diplacus spp.), and stands with other species dominant to co-dominant listed in level 15’ under 1, 2’, 12’, 13’, 14.

A stand of chaparral or coastal sage scrub is defined as a spatially continuous unit of shrub vegetation composed of chaparral and/or coastal sage scrub alliances. A chaparral and/or coastal sage scrub stand may be surrounded by forest, grassland, or woodland vegetation.