Farm Bureaus, Newsom support Feinstein’s wildfire bill

The American Farm Bureau and state farm bureaus for California and a dozen other states are putting their support behind a new bill aimed at wildfire mitigation projects.

California Senator Dianne Feinstein has introduced the measure with Republican Steve Daines of Montana.

According to a California Farm Bureau statement, “Backlogs in adequate management, coupled with drier, hotter conditions, have resulted in unhealthy, overly dense forests.” The bureaus support provisions in the bill that would expedite forest management, accelerate post-fire restoration and remove hazardous fuels from national forests.

Gov. Newsom supports the measure for how it would bolster the state’s emergency response while advancing fire resilience efforts.

The bill is up for its first hearing today.