CEQA decision pathways for forest health & fuels reduction projects.

Eligible activities. Prescribed fire, reforestation, habitat restoration, thinning, fuel reduction, and related activities.

Eligible lands. Federal lands (in whole or in part).

Trigger. NEPA review complete (ROD, FONSI, CatEx). Significant impacts identified in a NEPA EIS must be avoided or mitigated.

Funding. State grants on federal land, including Good Neighbor Authority projects.

(a)

Prescribed fire / fuel reduction to restore fire return interval: ≤50 contiguous acres, within ½ mile of a subdivision of ≥30 dwelling units. Excludes coastal sage scrub & other sensitive habitat. CDFW consultation required.

(b)

Defensible space fire clearance on public roadways that are egress or evacuation routes serving communities of ≥30 residences. Clearance limited to 100 ft from the roadway. Flammable vegetation and trees <12″ DBH only. No acreage cap — constrained by the corridor width.

(c)

Home hardening / defensible space within 200 ft of a legal structure in a High or Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone (FHSZ). Covers structural hardening and immediate defensible space activities. No tree-size limit specified. Requires FHSZ location.

(d)

Fuel break within 200 ft of structures, clearing flammable vegetation and trees <12″ DBH. Unlike (c), no FHSZ requirement — applies wherever structures are present. Use this category for fuel-break work outside a designated severity zone, or where tree-size constraints fit the project.

§15300.2 exceptions do not apply. Project must comply with all other laws, ordinances, zoning.

Eligible activities. Projects to conserve, restore, protect, or enhance California native fish, wildlife, and their habitat — or to restore or provide such habitat.

“Exclusively” requirement. Project must be exclusively restoration. Incidental public benefits (access, recreation) allowed; construction must be solely habitat-related.

Process. Lead agency findings (subdivisions a–d) → CDFW Director concurrence → file NOE with OPR within 48 hours. CDFW target: 60 days.

Scope. Minor alterations to land, water, and vegetation — thinning, ladder-fuel removal, roadside brushing, fuel break maintenance. Removal of healthy mature scenic trees is barred unless for forestry or agricultural purposes, in which case RPF attestation citing PRC §753 is the standard basis.

Any §15300.2 exception defeats the exemption — address each in the NOE:

Sensitive location. Mapped critical habitat, rare plant communities, riparian zones, or scenic corridors disqualify regardless of project size. Check CNDDB before filing.

Unusual circumstances. T&E species, steep-slope erosion from heavy equipment, or other site conditions creating a reasonable possibility of significant effect — document routine conditions and any CDFW consultation.

Cumulative impact. Individually minor treatments may fail collectively when one of several planned phases on the same landscape.

Scenic, historical, hazardous. Damage to state-designated scenic-highway views, listed historical resources, or Cortese-list sites also disqualifies.

Scale. No hard acreage cap, but large footprints invite challenge — document why overall impact remains minor.

Class 1

§15301 Existing Facilities. Operation, repair, maintenance, minor alteration with negligible expansion. Useful for ongoing maintenance of previously cleared fuel breaks.

Class 7

§15307 Natural Resources. Regulatory agency actions to assure maintenance, restoration, enhancement of a natural resource.

Class 8

§15308 Environment. Regulatory agency actions to assure protection of the environment.

Class 33

§15333 Small Habitat Restoration. ≤5 acres for fish/plant/wildlife habitat. Per the 2021 Crowfoot memo, T&E species presence and mechanized equipment use do not per se preclude use. Categorical counterpart to SERP for small projects.

What it did. Suspended CEQA, CESA, Coastal Act, and other state environmental laws for fuels projects ≤3,000 ac meeting one of six wildfire-risk-reduction objectives.

Status. >400 projects approved (≈80,000 ac). On-the-ground work must begin by Oct 15, 2026; completion within 2 years (extensions to 5 years for CAL FIRE Wildfire Prevention, Forest Health, and some Prop 4 grants).

Compliance. Statewide Fuels Reduction Environmental Protection Plan (Nov 2025) governs BMPs for all approved projects.

Replacement. No enacted successor. AB 2410 (Ellis, 2026) would codify a comparable CEQA exemption for critical fuels reduction projects in high fire threat districts and Very High FHSZ through Jan 1, 2030, keeping the 2025 Statewide Fuels Reduction Environmental Protection Plan as the compliance backbone — it is in Senate Appropriations and is not law. Separately, the Task Force’s June 2026 draft Action Plan (Key Action 3.7) directs agencies to explore a durable administrative framework.

Oak woodlands

Two distinct rules — don't confuse them.
CEQA side — PRC §21083.4. Not an exemption. Requires a public agency to determine whether a project may result in conversion of oak woodlands and apply specified mitigation if significant. Forestry/fuels projects that maintain the woodland (thinning encroaching conifers, removing ladder fuels) are generally not “conversion” and proceed under Class 4. Check the county Oak Resources Management Plan for “Fire Safe Activities” exemptions.
Forest Practice side — 14 CCR §1038(e). A true exemption from THP preparation requirements for commercial timber operations restoring oak woodland. See Card ⑧. Operates under the FPA's Certified Regulatory Program for CEQA purposes.

§15269(a)

Declared emergency. Work to prevent or mitigate damage from a sudden, unexpected occurrence. The 2015 statewide tree mortality proclamation remains active for high-hazard zones.

§15262

Feasibility / planning study. Useful for CWPP-style documents that don’t commit the agency to physical action.

§15061(b)(3)

“Common-sense” exemption. Available where it can be seen with certainty that a project has no possibility of significant effect.

§1038(c)

Structure Protection. Trees within 150 ft of an approved & legally permitted structure. No clearcut / seed tree / shelterwood removal.

§1038(b) / (d)

Dead, Dying, or Diseased / Drought Mortality. Up to 10% of volume per acre, or only trees affected by drought mortality (RPF stump-mark certification required).

§1038(e)

Oak Woodland Exemption. Cutting/removal of trees to restore and conserve California black oak (Quercus kelloggii) or Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana) woodlands and associated grasslands. ≤300 ac per ownership per planning watershed per 5-year period. Stand must have ≥35 ft²/ac of living oak basal area; post-harvest conifer stocking <25% of total; harvested conifers within 300 ft of a qualifying oak ≥4″ DBH. AB 2276 (Wood, 2024) revised the exemption — conifer diameter limit increased toward 30″ DBH (Board of Forestry rulemaking in progress).

§1038.3

Forest Resilience Exemption (formerly Forest Fire Prevention). Up to 300 ac in Moderate/High/Very High FHSZ. Renamed and extended to Jan 1, 2031 by AB 2276.

For non-exempt commercial work: THP (5-yr), NTMP (≤2,500 ac), or PTEIR.

The FPA program is a Certified Regulatory Program under PRC §21080.5 — THP/NTMP review is the functional equivalent of an EIR.