"SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California regulators said Tuesday that they have streamlined the state’s permit process to make it faster to approve tree-thinning projects designed to slow massive wildfires that have devastated communities in recent years.
The state Board of Forestry and Fire Protection approved a vegetation management program based on more than a decade of analysis of the potential environmental damage from removing different types of fuel, ranging from alpine trees to chaparral.
That will allow new projects to use the preapproved environmental analyses rather than starting fresh each time to meet the requirements of the California’s strict environmental laws."
Don Thompson reports for the Associated Press December 31, 2019.
Source: AP, 01/02/2020
