California Governor Gavin Newsom announced significant progress in wildfire prevention efforts, including the fast-tracking of over 400 projects, expanded use of beneficial fire, and the release of a draft five-year action plan. These initiatives aim to protect communities and restore landscapes across the state, building on an emergency proclamation issued in March 2025 to mitigate catastrophic wildfire risks.\n\nState agencies accelerated more than 400 priority wildfire prevention projects, covering over 220,000 activity acres across nearly 100,000 footprint acres. This expedited process has reduced review times by a year or more for complex projects, facilitating critical fuel reduction, forest restoration, and community protection work. Notable projects include efforts in Los Angeles, Humboldt, Siskiyou, Tuolumne, Santa Cruz, and San Diego counties.\n\nGovernor Newsom emphasized the urgency of these actions, saying, "California is moving with more urgency than ever to protect communities from growing wildfire risks. We're cutting red tape to get critical projects on the ground faster, expanding the use of prescribed and cultural fire, and charting a science-based path forward through a new statewide action plan that will help make our communities and natural landscapes more resilient for decades to come."\n\nThe state has also significantly expanded the use of prescribed and cultural burning, a proven wildfire prevention tool. In March 2026, the California Natural Resources Agency launched the state’s first-ever Tribal Stewardship Policy, setting a goal to expand tribal stewardship over at least 7.5 million acres. California Secretary for Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot highlighted this collaboration, stating, "California is expanding safe, controlled fire as one of our most effective tools to protect communities and restore the health of our landscapes. Since time immemorial, tribal communities used fire to steward California’s lands, and today we are working together to bring these practices back at the scale needed to confront the wildfire crisis and build long-term safety and resilience."\n\nPrescribed fire treatments in California have nearly doubled since 2021. CAL FIRE has treated nearly 20,000 acres with prescribed fire, and State Parks has expanded its program, treating over 1,300 acres. Joe Tyler, Director and Fire Chief of CAL FIRE, affirmed, "Expanding prescribed fire is essential to protect communities, restore forest health, and help to prevent catastrophic wildfire."\n\nThe Governor's Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force released its draft Wildfire and Landscape Resilience Action Plan (2026-2031) today. This plan, informed by scientific research and extensive collaboration, outlines a framework to accelerate and sustain wildfire resilience efforts. Task Force Director Patrick Wright noted, "This plan builds on that progress by providing a framework to work faster and smarter across larger landscapes and communities, and to sustain that work over time." The public is invited to provide feedback on the draft plan until August 7, 2026, with a final version expected in fall 2026.\n\nCalifornia has invested over $5 billion in wildfire and forest resilience since 2019. CAL FIRE has also expanded its workforce, adding an average of 1,800 full-time and 600 seasonal positions annually over the past five years, with plans to hire thousands more firefighters and natural resource professionals in the coming years.
