Sacramento, California – In a significant shift to bolster wildfire resilience, California has unveiled a new streamlined permitting system that drastically shortens the approval process for forest and vegetation management projects. Under the new policy, introduced by Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration, project timelines could be reduced from over a year to just 30 days, potentially clearing a significant bottleneck in the state’s wildfire prevention strategy .
“This new streamlined process, which builds on historic investments and nation-leading actions to confront catastrophic wildfires, cuts red tape to fast-track more wildfire projects than ever before,” said Governor Newsom in a statement this week.
The reform is part of California’s broader wildfire resilience strategy and aligns with Newsom’s Emergency Proclamation on Wildfires and the state’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force’s 25 Key Deliverables for 2025. It comes just ahead of peak wildfire season, as the state faces another devastating year, with some of the most destructive fires already on record…