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Comment 11 for Comment Log for Public Workshop on the Natural and Working Lands Sector to Inform the 2030 Target Scoping Plan Update URL: (scoplan2030nwl-ws) - 1st Workshop.
First Name: Norman
Last Name: Groot
Email Address: norm@montereycfb.com
Affiliation: Monterey County Farm Bureau
Subject: Healthy Landscapes 2030
Comment:
Thank you for the opportunity to provide comment on the Healthy Landscapes 2030: Californias Climate Change Vision and Goals for Natural and Working Lands. Monterey County Farm Bureau represents family farmers and ranchers in the interest of protecting and promoting agriculture throughout our County. We strive to improve the ability of those engaged in production agriculture to provide a reliable supply of food and fiber through responsible stewardship of our local resources. We recognize the importance of adequate planning at the State level for future contingencies such as climate change. We support planning that includes stakeholder involvement and input as part of any new regulatory process. Reading the document provided, we are overwhelmed by the enormity of the issues and the complexity of the input we are being asked to provide. For example, the following is a list of the laws, policies and plans mentioned in the Healthy Landscapes 2030 Discussion Paper: AB 32 AB 32 Scoping Plan Executive Order B-30-15 California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Safeguarding California: Reducing Climate Risk CARB Climate Change Scoping Plan Natural and Working Lands Agricultural Sector Implementation Plan California Five-Year Infrastructure Plan 2030 Target Scoping Plan Update California Water Action Plan State Wildlife Action Plan County Integrated Regional Watershed Management Plans Sustainable Communities Strategies Regional Advanced Mitigation Plans Natural Community Conservation Plans Habitat Conservation Plans Climate Change Action plans by each respective agency: o Natural Resources Agency o Department of Parks and Recreation o Department of Conservation o Department of Fish and Wildlife o Department of Forestry and Fire Protection o Department of Water Resources o Wildlife Conservation Board o State Conservancies (such as the State Coastal Conservancy) 2015 Healthy Soils Initiative Climate Smart Agriculture in California (an integrated approach to both achieving GHG reductions and ensuring food security in the face of climate change) Comet-Farm and Comet-planner tools that incorporate USDA NRCS technical guidelines will be valuable resources Draft Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy Few landowners in the Monterey area deal with forestry related issues. There may be a few private properties with timber, or some ranchers may have grazing leases on state or federal lands. If so, a landowner would also have to take into account these documents that were mentioned in Healthy Landscapes 2030: Forestry Climate Action Team California Forest Carbon Plan Concept Paper: Managing our Forest Landscapes in a Change Climate (draft) Forest Carbon Plan Tree Mortality Task Force California Strategic Fire Plan Region 5 Forest Service Ecological Restoration Plan National Forest Resource Plans National Park Service Resource Plans BLM Resource Plans California Forest Improvement Program (CAL FIRE) Forest Stewardship Plans NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program Forest Stewardship Plans (voluntary) American Tree Farm Program Additionally, these items noted in the document generate further questions: Each state Agency shall employ full-life-cycle cost accounting to evaluate and compare infrastructure investments and alternatives as part of their climate change planning and investment decisions will there be coordination between agencies when developing these cost reports? How will this information be shared with, and indeed vetted, with stakeholders? California Governors Office of Planning and Research will establish a technical, advisory group to help state agencies incorporate climate change when will this work product be available, and how can it be accessed? Is the California Water Action Plan the same as the California Water Roadmap for Action? These are all of the laws, policies, plans, and implementation tools that were mentioned in Healthy Landscapes 2030 that we would need to digest before we are able to fully comprehend what the state is planning. This makes it extremely difficult to provide useful and cogent input into the questions outlined on Page 11 of the Healthy Landscapes 2030: Californias Climate Change Vision and Goals for Natural and Working Lands. Also note, Agriculture needs to be aware of climate change plans that have been written by agencies that were NOT mentioned in the Healthy Landscapes 2030 document: Cal-EPA Department of Pesticide Regulation CARB Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery Department of Toxic Substances Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment State Water Resources Control Board Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board California Coastal Commission Local climate action plans developed on municipal and county levels Finally, please note that farmers and ranchers in the Monterey area must take into account climate change plans of federal agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Monterey County Farm Bureau is uncertain about the level of awareness that exists throughout our agricultural community regarding the quantitative targets that are being developed by the State as part of the Healthy Landscapes 2030 Scoping Plan Update. We suspect that awareness is very low. Therefore, we propose that the state slow down and increase the level of outreach and awareness, providing clarity to the states goals. Finally, the state needs to incorporate more agricultural community stakeholder involvement and input into every aspect of the development of quantitative targets and Land Use Valuation and Co-Benefits. Currently, it could be said that because of lack of awareness, quantification goals for measuring, monitoring and reporting are occurring in a vacuum. Involvement of the agricultural community will not be easy or simple. Current water and land use regulatory trends, trajectories and implementations have created, perpetuated and exacerbated distrust between public, private and non-regulatory governmental organizational interests in this state. These regulatory processes are occupying a significant portion of the bandwidth that farmers and ranchers have available when not tending to their crops. The pressures of continued regulatory intensity are costly and may ultimately cause the smaller farming operations in our region to become financially unstable. Only through methodical, thoughtful, inclusive, transparent, and integrative processes will the state be able to move forward on a solution-oriented path for success. Monterey County Farm Bureau fully supports any effort towards cost analyses; we would welcome a robust review of impacts of state climate change initiatives on state and local economies. Full life-cycle cost accounting would be a great place from which to engage private interests in a robust and necessary dialog. We also would like to see a budgetary review of the government resources that are being dedicated to climate change and resource protection of natural and working lands. Monterey County Farm Bureau would welcome the opportunity to provide more input on these issues. We encourage a more robust participatory process. We recognize that there is a lot of work to do in order to fully understand the issues. We must begin by reviewing the figurative and literal mountain of policies, reports and recommendations that have been created by the state before we could provide more detailed comment. We are hopeful that we will have that opportunity in the future. Sincerely, Norman C. Groot Executive Director
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Date and Time Comment Was Submitted: 2016-04-06 12:06:22
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