Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders said today/Thursday that California will authorize $536 million for wildfire mitigation and forest management projects before the worst of the fire season strikes later this year.
That more than doubles $200 million in recent annual spending, and wildfire preparedness grants were dropped entirely last year when the state prematurely antici pated a pandemic-driven budget shortfall.
Earlier this month, the governor used his emergency powers to authorize nearly $81 million to hire nearly 1,400 additional firefighters. In January, Newsom proposed spending $323 million this spring on forest health and fire prevention projects, with another $1 billion in next year’s budget.
