\nBackground:
\nThe California Vegetation Treatment Program (CalVTP), developed by \nthe Board of Forestry and Fire Protection (Board), is a critical \ncomponent of the state\u2019s multi-faceted strategy to address California\u2019s \nwildfire crisis. The CalVTP defines the vegetation treatment activities \nand associated environmental protections to reduce the risk of loss of \nlives and property, reduce fire suppression costs, restore ecosystems, \nand protect natural resources as well as other assets at risk from \nwildfire. The CalVTP supports the use of prescribed burning, mechanical \ntreatments, hand crews, herbicides, and prescribed herbivory as tools to\n reduce hazardous vegetation around communities in the Wildland-Urban \nInterface (WUI), to construct fuel breaks, and to restore healthy \necological fire regimes.\n
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) \nhas the primary responsibility for implementing proposed CalVTP \nvegetation treatments, though many local, regional, and state agencies \ncould also employ the CalVTP to implement vegetation treatments if their\n projects are within the scope of the CalVTP (see Final PEIR, Chapter 2,\n Program Description). The CalVTP will allow CAL FIRE, along with other \nagency partners, to expand their vegetation treatment activities to \ntreat up to approximately 250,000 acres per year, contributing to the \ntarget of 500,000 annual acres of treatment on non-federal lands as \nexpressed in Executive Order (EO) B-52-18.
\nThe Board has prepared a Final Program Environmental Impact Report \n(PEIR), which evaluates the environmental impacts of the CalVTP in \naccordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).\u00a0 The \nBoard certified the Final PEIR and approved the CalVTP on December 30, \n2019.\u00a0\u00a0