Opinion ID: 2585012
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: What Are Sustained Yield Plans?

Text: (3) A proper understanding of the nature and purpose of Sustained Yield Plans for timber harvesting begins by placing them in the context of the Forest Practice Act (Pub. Resources Code, ง 4511 et seq.). The Act's provisions, together with implementing rules and regulations promulgated by the State Board of Forestry (board) ([Pub. Resources Code,] งง 4521.3, 4551), provide a comprehensive scheme regulating timber operations in a way which promotes the legislative `goal of [achieving] maximum sustained production of high-quality timber products ... while giving consideration to values relating to recreation, watershed, wildlife, range and forage, fisheries, regional economic vitality, employment, and aesthetic enjoyment' ([Pub. Resources Code,] งง 4513, subd. (b), 4512, subd. (c)). The heart of the scheme is its requirement that logging be carried out only in conformance with a timber harvesting plan (THP or plan) submitted by the timber owner or operator and approved by the department after determining, with an opportunity for input from state and county agencies and the general public, that the proposed operations conform to the Act and rules and regulations. ([Pub. Resources Code,] งง 4581-4582.75, 4583; [citations].) [ถ] Since 1976, the THP preparation and approval process developed under the Act has been certified as the functional equivalent to, and hence an adequate substitute for, the full environmental impact report (EIR) process required by CEQA. [Citations.] ( T.R.E.E.S. v. Department of Forestry & Fire Protection (1991) 233 Cal.App.3d 1175, 1180 [285 Cal.Rptr. 26].) As part of fulfilling the Forest Practice Act's goals, the Legislature has authorized the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to create rules and regulations for the development of Sustained Yield Plans. (Pub. Resources Code, ง 4551.3, subd. (a).) The SYP is intended to serve as a kind of master plan for timber harvesting a large geographic area. The board's regulations, adopted as article 6.75 of title 14 of the California Code of Regulations, declares: This Article carries out the Legislature's direction that the Board adopt regulations to assure the continuous growing and harvesting of commercial forest tree species and to protect the soil, air, fish and wildlife, and water resources in accordance with the policies of the ... Act.... Those policies include creating and maintaining a system of timberland regulations and use which ensures that timberland productivity is maintained, enhanced and restored where feasible and the goal of maximum sustained production of high-quality timber products ... is achieved while giving consideration to environmental and economic values. The Sustained Yield Plan (SYP) may be submitted at the option of the landowner and is intended to supplement the THP process by providing a means for addressing long-term issues of sustained timber production, and cumulative effects analysis which includes issues of fish and wildlife and watershed impacts on a large landscape basis. (FP Rules, ง 1091.1, subd. (b).) Under the Forest Practice Rules, an SYP shall not replace a THP. However, to the extent that sustained timber production, watershed impacts and fish and wildlife issues are addressed in the approved SYP, these issues shall be considered to be addressed in the THP; that is the THP may rely upon the SYP. (FP Rules, ง 1091.2, italics added.) Forest Practice Rules section 1091.45, subdivision (a) further elaborates on the SYP requirements: Consistent with the protection of soil, water, air, fish and wildlife resources a SYP shall clearly demonstrate how the submitter will achieve maximum sustained production of high quality timber products while giving consideration to regional economic vitality and employment at planned harvest levels during the planning horizon. The average annual projected harvest over any rolling 10-year period, or over appropriately longer time periods for ownerships which project harvesting at intervals less frequently than once every 10 years, shall not exceed the long-term sustained yield estimate for a SYP submitter's ownership. Forest Practice Rules section 1091.3 defines Planning Horizon as the 100 year period over which sustained timber production, watershed, and fish and wildlife effects shall be evaluated. The Forest Practice Rules also require [a]n estimate of the long-term sustained yield. (FP Rules, ง 1091.45, subd. (c)(2).) Thus, the SYP is a kind of master plan for timber harvesting over a long time period that supplements but does not replace the THP process, and individual THP's may rely on the SYP to the extent it analyzes the pertinent issues. [6]