(a) Under an agreement between the state and the federal government, the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency shall establish a program for purposes of conducting ecological restoration and fire resiliency projects on national forest lands, with priority given to forest restoration and fuels reduction projects that are landscape scale and are focused on ecological restoration and to community fire protection and protection of water and other infrastructure. Projects shall be based on the best available science and shall emphasize the use of prescribed fire where appropriate. Projects with multiple benefits shall be prioritized, as applicable and feasible. Eligible activities under the program, consistent with Section 2113a of Title 16 of the United States Code, any other federal law, and the agreement, may include any of the following:

(1) The development of federal National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. § 4321 et seq.) documents, and documents prepared pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000)).

(2) Other activities related to project planning, such as preparation of resource surveys, analyses, and reports.

(3) Implementation and maintenance of selected projects, including ecological thinning, prescribed fire, replanting, and related activities necessary to carry out authorized restoration services pursuant to an agreement.

(b) Projects subject to this chapter shall be designed, to the extent feasible, to do the following:

(1) Prevent type conversion and the spread of invasive plants and grasses.

(2) Based upon the best available science, provide for ecological restoration and fire resiliency projects appropriate to the landscape and vegetation being treated.

(3) Provide ecologically appropriate treatment for native shrublands, such as chaparral and coastal sage scrub, including the removal of flammable nonnative invasive species and the restoration of native species, where appropriate.

(c) The Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency may contract with Native American tribes, state agencies, local governments, special districts, forest collaboratives, resource conservation districts, private entities, and qualified nongovernmental organizations to assist in planning, implementing, and maintaining landscape scale restoration projects on national forest lands.

(Added by Stats. 2021, Ch. 232, Sec. 4. (AB 697) Effective January 1, 2022.)