Existing law authorizes the director of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection as part of the Forest Improvement Program, to enter into agreements with an eligible landowner, as defined, pursuant to which the landowner will undertake forest resource improvement work in return for an agreement by the director to share the cost of carrying out that work, as specified. Existing law authorizes the director to provide the funds for the director’s share of the costs in advance of any work performed if the eligible landowner agrees in writing to undertake the forest resource improvement work subject to the condition that funds provided for any uncompleted work shall constitute grounds for a claim and lien upon the real property owned by the landowner.

This bill would require the department to develop, adopt, and implement policies and, if necessary, regulations that establish procedures for allowing homeowners to submit joint applications for purposes of combining the individual parcels of land owned by each homeowner so that the cumulative area of the lands in their joint application satisfies any minimum acreage requirements established by the department for participation in the program, and similarly establish procedures for providing up to 50% of the funds for the director’s share of the costs under the program in advance of any work performed under a joint homeowner application.