A critique of California’s Forest Practice Rules’ capacity to accommodate resilience silviculture

The wildfire crisis in California will likely require fundamental changes to forest practice regulations so that foresters can practice resilience silviculture that modifies forest conditions sufficiently to avoid further conversions of the landscape into non-forested vegetation types. We assessed the extent to which California’s forest practice regulations accommodate one key element of resilience silviculture: density reduction. We found that, generally, current (as of 2025) regulations do accommodate the reduction of density down to average levels that have been documented by recent reconstruction studies. However, we found them to be possibly constraining when considering the potential need to reduce density below historical levels. Our assessment found that foresters do not utilize an existing mechanism that allows them to reduce densities to lower levels, suggesting an area for further investigation. Recent changes that allow California Environmental Quality Act exemptions have made it more feasible for foresters to practice resilience silviculture. More adjustments could be made, especially those that incentivize surface and ladder fuels management. A starting point that will facilitate further change may be to define “resilience” for working forests as an objective that is at least as important as timber productivity.