California has moved nearer to enacting permanent legislation designed to protect mountain communities from forest fires.
The state’s Board of Forestry and Fire Protection has set in motion public hearings so permanent rules can take effect at the start of 2005. The legislation will make it cheaper and easier to thin forests near fire-prone areas.
The board also extended an emergency trial run of the rules it had approved in June.
Supporters of the legislation, which includes both environmental groups and the timber industry, hope it will encourage a new industry of contractors who can thin trees cost-effectively.
