S-4453.2
SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6281
State of Washington 68th Legislature 2024 Regular Session
By Senate Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources & Parks (originally
sponsored by Senators Van De Wege, Warnick, Dozier, Mullet, and
Short)
READ FIRST TIME 01/30/24.
1 AN ACT Relating to investing in reforestation efforts following
2 landscape-scale forest disturbances; adding a new section to chapter
3 76.14 RCW; creating a new section; and making appropriations.
4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
5 NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) Due to the changing climate,
6 catastrophic wildfires are on the increase in the state's forests
7 causing the release of carbon stored in the trees, soils, and other
8 biomass. Climate-informed reforestation for landscape resilience is
9 vital to growing more resilient forests that will help address the
10 wildfire crisis, sequester carbon, and enhance biodiversity and
11 ecosystem services.
12 (2) Congress responded to the national need to address the
13 impacts of catastrophic wildfires when it passed the repairing
14 existing public land by adding necessary trees (REPLANT) act as part
15 of the infrastructure and jobs act of 2021. The REPLANT act seeks to
16 scale up reforestation across national forests over the next five
17 years and begin an historically significant restoration effort on
18 national forestlands.
19 (3) A similar state-based effort is needed to replant burned
20 forestlands to increase forest health and resilience, mitigate
21 postfire vulnerabilities, and restore the ability of these lands to
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 1 sequester carbon. The need is easily defined by the thousands of
2 acres of forestlands that have been lost to wildfire during the past
3 decade. Reforesting in the right place, at the right time, with the
4 right species, and at appropriate scales can change the current
5 trajectory. Reforestation of the state's burned forestlands is in the
6 best interest of the state and consistent with Washington's efforts
7 to combat climate change.
8 (4) The legislature recognizes the importance of providing
9 additional funding for the postfire reforestation of public, private,
10 and nonprofit forestland owners to expedite the replanting of burned
11 forestlands and to restore the ability of these lands to sequester
12 carbon.
13 NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 76.14
14 RCW to read as follows:
15 (1) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this
16 specific purpose, the department shall administer a reforestation
17 grant program designed to incentivize and invest in climate-informed
18 reforestation after large forest stand replacement events such as
19 wildfire, landslides, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes, and
20 other natural catastrophic events that damage the ecoservices of
21 natural or managed forests.
22 (2) The department must establish criteria for the grant program
23 allowing land preparation, sourcing of seedling, reforestation, and
24 additional efforts to promote seedling survival, which must include:
25 (a) A cost-share percentage with the grant recipient not to
26 exceed 25 percent of the grant award, including any in-kind
27 contributions;
28 (b) Minimum and maximum potential grant awards;
29 (c) Applicant eligibility criteria that must include tribal
30 ownerships, nonprofit landowners and managers, industrial and
31 nonindustrial private forestland owners, local governments, and other
32 state agencies and must exclude public lands owned by the federal
33 government or, to avoid a conflict of interest, lands managed
34 directly by the department. Applicants are not restricted regarding
35 whether they direct funds in their proposal to a program of the
36 department to execute their reforestation program of work, such as
37 either conservation corps capacity or purchase of seedling supply, or
38 both;
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 1 (d) The prioritization of funds for direct reforestation efforts
2 and may be utilized to support aspects of the reforestation pipeline
3 to ensure sustainability of the program;
4 (e) Ensuring the applicant's projects are not required by law;
5 (f) Specific considerations for grant applicants proposing to
6 include, as part of the project, the reforestation of riparian
7 buffers, potentially unstable slopes, or other areas where harvest is
8 restricted due to state regulations that were affected by the
9 underlying catastrophic event; and
10 (g) Consideration of any relevant environmental justice
11 assessments under RCW 70A.02.060.
12 (3) The department must limit the overall size of the program
13 required under this section to the level of appropriations provided
14 specifically for this purpose.
15 NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The sum of $10,000,000, or as much thereof
16 as may be necessary, is appropriated from the natural climate
17 solutions account created in RCW 70A.65.270 to the department of
18 natural resources for the purposes of the reforestation grant program
19 created in section 2 of this act.
20 NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1) The legislature recognizes the ongoing
21 need for the department of natural resources to respond to the
22 impacts of wildfire on forestlands managed by the department.
23 (2) The sum of $10,000,000, or as much thereof as may be
24 necessary, is appropriated from the natural climate solutions account
25 created in RCW 70A.65.270 to the department of natural resources for
26 postfire reforestation of the forestlands managed by the department.
27 The department of natural resources must prioritize expenditures for
28 the benefit of state trust lands.
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Statutes affected:
Original Bill: 70A.65.270