Z’berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973: working forest management plans: harvest area.

Assembly Member Hadwick's forestry management legislation aims to modify California's working forest management plan requirements by removing the mandate that harvest areas must remain within a single hydrological boundary. The measure, co-authored by Assembly Member Tangipa, amends the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973, which governs timber harvesting on nonindustrial private forestlands.

The bill maintains existing provisions that limit working forest management plans to timberland owners with less than 10,000 acres who are not primarily engaged in forest product manufacturing. These plans must continue to pursue objectives of maintaining or creating uneven-aged managed timber stands, achieving sustained yield, and protecting watersheds, fisheries, and wildlife habitats. The legislation preserves definitions for key forestry concepts including long-term sustained yield, management units, and working forest harvest notices.

Under current law, forest managers must restrict harvest operations to areas contained within individual watershed boundaries. By eliminating this geographic constraint, the amended code would allow timber harvesting activities to span multiple hydrological areas while retaining other environmental protection requirements. The change affects only the spatial limitations on harvest areas, leaving intact the act's broader forest stewardship mandates and sustained yield objectives.