- yesterday
In a briefing, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) shared details about new wildfire prevention measures taken by the state.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you, Patrick, for the overview, and, Chief, thank you, all of you, for being here to Conservation Corp.
00:06Thank you for your extraordinary work and sacrifice.
00:10I mean, it's 10 in the morning.
00:12I can't even imagine what it's like in a few hours out there on the ridge and all that hard work that you're doing every single day.
00:20To everyone in uniform, grateful for your service and grateful for your sacrifice and commitment to this cause.
00:27Look, we've spent a lot of time together over the course of the last number of years talking about the imperative of prevention, not just response and recovery.
00:39Here today, we are highlighting some of the preparedness work.
00:43And you heard just a moment ago the unprecedented investments that are being made in the state, the unprecedented results of those investments.
00:51But the state can only do so much.
00:52The state of California manages 3% of the land in California, 3%.
00:5857% of the land in this state is under the jurisdiction of the federal government, 57% under the jurisdiction of the federal government, 3% under the jurisdiction of the state.
01:12We have more than doubled our investments in the last number of years across the spectrum of investments around forest and vegetation management, around investments in Cal Fire, around investments in our suppression and new technologies.
01:29But it is not enough without an equivalent commitment from the federal government.
01:35And so what we are calling for today is something we've called for in the past.
01:40In fact, in 2019, I was here in Colfax, just a mile or so away the first full day in office as governor.
01:48Signed an executive order, an emergency proclamation to prioritize 35 high profile vegetation management projects in the state to fast track the approval process.
01:58That same day, we also sent a letter to then President Donald Trump asking them and the administration asking him to resolve to do more and be more accountable to fires that are occurring and initiating on federal land.
02:16The Camp Fire, Calder Fire, the Ranch Fire, just in San Bernardino, just a few weeks ago, that struck almost 4,000 acres, all federal fires.
02:28Half of the new fire starts just over the course of the last 48 hours.
02:32They've been on federal land, just associated specifically the last 24 with the lightning strikes in Northern California.
02:40We need an equivalent commitment of resources, not rhetoric, to support these partnerships.
02:50The reality is the Senate just hours ago cut the budgets to the Forest Service.
02:59This administration has cut the budget to NOAA.
03:02This administration has cut the budget to FEMA.
03:04We have less access to incident command teams, the U.S. Forest Service.
03:11The U.S. Forest Service is underpaid, not just understaffed and underresourced.
03:16The previous administration made investments to increase pay, but it's not enough.
03:23They're losing personnel.
03:25It's been a benefit for Cal Fire, but they're losing personnel in critical parts of this state.
03:31This is about life safety.
03:34We're putting people's lives and property at risk.
03:37The President of the United States needs to do more to back up his rhetoric with investments and resources,
03:43to roll back the cuts of the U.S. Forest Service, to increase the pay of our firefighters and support teams,
03:51and to reconcile the fact that these partnerships include the critical weather monitoring,
03:56the critical work that NOAA does, and obviously the critical resources that FEMA has historically provided.
04:03So we laid out not just our request in detail in a letter, but also in an executive order
04:10that the President could sign this afternoon after he makes his way back
04:14from some East Coast Alcatraz visit that he was on in the Everglades.
04:24This is serious business.
04:26The state has seriously resolved to commit to do more than we have historically,
04:32and we need to match or see that ambition matched at the federal level.
04:38That's the fundamental message that I wanted to communicate.
04:41Let me just reiterate and, of course, open up for questions some of the points that Patrick and others, the Chief, made.
04:48730,000 acres treated.
04:50It was a record in 2023.
04:52Over 2 million now acres of projects just from 2021 to 2023 were advanced.
04:592,200 now with a new dashboard for more transparency treated these 730,000 acres.
05:05We show exactly the progress of those 2,200-plus landscape vegetation and forest management projects throughout the state.
05:13You can go on this interactive map, and you can see precisely where we are.
05:17Unprecedented investments in providing support as well with tools of technology that have aided in this effort
05:26as it relates to 3D modeling, as it relates to LiDAR technology that's aided and advanced some of these efforts.
05:33All of those, of course, stacking in terms of our prevention and suppression efforts as well.
05:40I've highlighted the 16 new helicopters we brought in to the world's largest aerial firefighting fleet,
05:46largest in the world, 16 that have capacity now to drop suppressants at night, the C-130s now that are under the color of CalGuard
05:58or, excuse me, under the color of the CalFire.
06:03We're proud of the fact we've got two operational.
06:06We'll have another in a matter of weeks.
06:09We'll get all seven up in operational in a matter of many months.
06:14We'll continue to make more investments as it relates to AI and more investments as it relates to other technology,
06:20including technology behind you in front of me, these state-of-the-art cameras.
06:26This is one of our critical sites for that camera technology, the alert technology.
06:31We have positioned all throughout the state of California, which allows us access to early capacity for identifying these starts.
06:40So I'm just grateful for the legislature, for their ongoing commitment.
06:44That was reinforced last night as we signed off on the final phase of our budget.
06:50We'll continue to make those investments, not just this year, but going into the future.
06:562,400 Cal Fire staff that we're committed to to increase roughly 11,000 current staff over the next five years.
07:06That's our commitment, and we'll continue to 10x.
07:10That's what we've done from $200 million to $2.5 billion, the investments we're making in forest and vegetation management.
07:17So long-winded, forgive me, but very proud of some of these efforts.
07:21But we cannot do it alone in isolation.
07:24We need the support of the federal government.
07:26The Trump administration needs to step up, and they need to fund these efforts, not just here in California, but throughout the western United States.
07:36Lives and property are on the line.
07:39And so I cannot impress upon those in Congress and those at the White House the importance as we go into peak fire season.
07:47Final point, it's also critical that we get our men and women back, the National Guard, to get them back doing the work in partnership with the Conservation Corps and Cal Fire to get these projects moving again.
08:02Eight out of 14 of our rattlesnake teams were degraded, and you've got men and women literally, not even assigned, sitting there in their barracks doing nothing when they were doing something as important as preparing for wildfire season.
08:19Hundreds of people were taken off the job of preparing for wildfire season for theater, theatrics, less than 20% of the 5,000 military now, less than 20% have been mission assigned.
08:35And it's not just the rattlesnake teams, the hundreds of people that were out there protecting your communities, but they took teachers out of schools.
08:44They took firefighters out of stations.
08:50They took law enforcement off the streets.
08:55They took people away from their families and homes for nothing.
09:01They're sitting there doing nothing.
09:045,000, hundreds of millions of dollars wasted taxpayer money for theater, for nothing.
09:11We need those teams back, and it's not just the rattlesnake teams.
09:17It's the drug interdiction that they were doing to deal with the fentanyl crisis, the work we were doing down at the border.
09:23They were taking off those critical assignments for theater, for nothing more than theater.
09:28And so part of our request to this administration is immediately reassign the men and women of the National Guard to partner with these remarkable people behind me to keep our community safe and prepare for this year's fire season.
09:44With that, we're happy to answer any questions.
09:46When was the last time you guys spoke directly about this request on forest land and managing forest land?
10:01Well, we've had this conversation over the course of many, many years, and he's well aware of the importance of these investments, not only from the time that he and I spent at Camp Fire in Paradise,
10:16seeing the destruction of that again on a federal land initiated, the responsibility that's placed with him to rake his forests, 57%, 3% California responsibility, 57% his responsibility.
10:36Patrick just made the point, 350 million dollars of state taxpayer money to rake his forests, the federal forests, because they're not doing their job.
10:47So we've had this conversation over the course of many, many years.
10:51We've sent a number of direct correspondents.
10:54We've worked through our congressional delegation.
10:56We've worked through our state staff that resides in Washington, D.C. to make this a priority.
11:01I could not be more pleased with the leadership of Adam Schiff and Senator Padilla in particular on this issue that have been strong advocates with their colleagues in Congress.
11:12And there are a number of members of our California delegation that have led the way.
11:17There are other members of the California delegation that just supported cuts to forest service and forest management and cuts to NOAA and FEMA, which is remarkable.
11:27Well, many of them allegedly represent, look that word up, districts like this.
11:34In the past, you've noted that you and the president have worked well together on at least disaster relief.
11:40I mean, is this request specifically just to do think it's falling on deaf ears?
11:43Well, it shouldn't.
11:46People's lives are at risk.
11:48Property is at risk.
11:50This is serious stuff.
11:51You know, taking 5,000 military for no purpose, taking hundreds of them off the lines that were advancing a purpose of keeping people safe and keep a property and mitigating risk.
12:09Serious business.
12:10So I hope he takes it seriously.
12:12Well, he's serious when he talks about raking.
12:25I mean, he's actually serious, which is an extraordinary thing.
12:28I'll leave that to more objective minds.
12:31But he quite literally thinks you should just go out and rake the forest.
12:38Make America rake again.
12:40What makes you think that this time bill is complicit?
12:44Well, to the pleas of people, neighbors, residents, I saw a lot of Trump signs around here.
12:50I mean, I think he claims to care about the people who voted for him, though, with this big betrayal, this bill, there's a lot of evidence to suggest otherwise.
13:00Just gutting rural parts of this country.
13:04And so many of his supporters, literally, just gutting support.
13:08I guess that's consistent.
13:11He maintains a consistency of literally turning the back on the same people he claims to care so much about.
13:16So I hope he'll come back in the fold and recognize he has a responsibility and reconcile this betrayal.
13:24Do you think your relationship with the president is much fractured in the way?
13:29Well, I don't know how.
13:31I mean, that's an understatement.
13:32But, you know, I have an open hand as it relates to wanting to work together.
13:41I maintain that.
13:42I maintain that.
13:43And just I'll remind you all just the proof point during COVID.
13:47We're going back and forth and we worked extraordinarily well together.
13:50The conversation I had with him just a few weeks ago was extraordinarily cordial.
13:55He followed up by a line about the conversation and over our objection, taking men and women off the front lines that we're addressing the crisis that we're trying to address as it relates to vegetation and forest management for no other purpose than theatrics.
14:18So, yeah, we have strong disagreements at this moment.
14:22Can I ask if there's been any further talks about where funds stand for the L.A. fight?
14:28Nothing.
14:29We're working with other, not only our congressional delegation here, but other delegations across the United States.
14:38Those dollars, disaster dollars, recovery dollars, are not unique to California, meaning there are a number of other states that are requesting significant.
14:48sums of money, including in South Carolina, North Carolina, notably, and we're working with those delegations, those governors, Republicans and Democrats.
14:58And we're hopeful that this summer, early fall, that we'll see some progress in that space.
15:04Governor, you're talking about federal rollbacks on forest climate.
15:09There's also plenty of examples of in-state Democrats, national Democrats, taking steps back on climate change.
15:16For example, there's a bill to be familiar with carbon fuel standards.
15:20There's a problem.
15:21So I want to know, are you intervening on the climate change and why?
15:26Well, quite the contrary.
15:28No state has done more to advance the cause of low-carbon green growth in the state of California.
15:32Again, so that remains, that commitment and that resolve remains.
15:38As it relates to, I think, two specific examples, there's always legislative efforts, both parties, to make adjustments, make change to ongoing programs.
15:47We'll look at those on the merits.
15:50And we're constantly trying to iterate.
15:52But no, quite the contrary.
15:53And I think you see that across the spectrum, not only as it relates to the remarkable investments that we're making, as it relates to investing in climate adaptation, as it relates to investing in the way we produce and consume energy, but also in our litigation posture, as it relates to the rollbacks of progress under this administration.
16:18And we continue to highlight, particularly today in the Senate's action, the unprecedented vandalism as it relates to green energy and tax policy.
16:29That was highlighted by Elon Musk himself, a true betrayal to the future.
16:35They're doubling down on the past, and California wants to maintain its leadership and the options of federal leadership.
16:41Hi, Governor.
16:42I'm Tina Gross from the Interim of Peace Laura.
16:44Do you have any idea how many fires have been on federal land since President Trump took office in 2015?
16:50Well, if I had that numeric, I'm going to compete with Chet GPT.
16:54So let me get back to you.
16:56But we can analyze that.
16:59The 3,200 was a good stat.
17:01It just puts it in perspective.
17:02I mean, these guys, I said all the time, unlike baseball, they don't get credit for saves.
17:07And they deserve credit for saves.
17:09It's what we don't hear about, what we don't know about.
17:11Keeping these fires starts under 10 acres, and that's incredibly important numeric, 98-plus percent they're able to suppress early.
17:22That's the goal, and they're executing on that.
17:24But it is, unsurprisingly, a disproportionate share on the very nature and basis, the fact that just 3% of the land is state land, the rest private and obviously federal.
17:36But it's, look, for us, we're not pointing fingers.
17:40We've got incident command teams.
17:41We are all in this together.
17:44And that's back to the comment that was made.
17:46It's about partnership.
17:47And we just need a partner, not a sparring partner, in the spirit of your question about Trump, a working partner.
17:53When it comes to these issues, they shouldn't be political.
17:56And that's what's frustrating about this.
17:58They often are.
17:58They're threatening to withhold money from a state because that state has different policy positions on a few critical issues.
18:06Withholding money on that basis for disaster recovery, it's absurd.
18:11And I think it's un-American.
18:14And it's certainly not the approach we take.
18:15I said it on many occasions.
18:17I was proud as a taxpayer to help support the folks in Speaker Johnson's district with recovery.
18:23I'm proud to support the folks out there in Florida and Governor DeSantis.
18:27We provided a lot of resources.
18:29These guys sent teams out there to help them in times of recovery.
18:32It's a point of deep pride.
18:33I've done the same with Governor Abbott in Texas.
18:36It's what it's about, to be an American.
18:38United States, United States of America, not Red State of America and Blue State of America.
18:45You know, time for a little patriotism or maybe a little lesson on patriotism as we enter the Fourth of July.
18:52Part of that patriotism is to let these men and women in uniform that have been federalized for purely theatrical purposes back home.
19:01Thousands and thousands of military want to be back with their families celebrating the Fourth of July.
19:09That would be a patriotic act by the President of the United States.
19:13He'd have the back of the men and women in uniform, uses them for political purposes.
19:20Why doesn't he celebrate their families as he celebrates this country?
19:24I would celebrate that action and why he's at it.
19:27Let's get these rattlesnake teams back out and get our counter-drug task forces fully staffed again.
19:34And the work we're doing with Border Patrol, we've been doing since 2019, to get that back operational.
19:41And, Mr. Governor, here, an interesting thing here, Atal Wallace, the next star station,
19:45an interesting thing here is you've actually written a template for this executive order.
19:48Yes, or did all the S&P do?
19:49Well, we made it easy.
19:53Here it is.
19:54It's a simple executive order.
19:56It just requires one thing, that large Sharpie and a signature.
20:00He gave me seven of them.
20:02I can actually hand one back.
20:04He's out of one.
20:05Simple pen.
20:07There's a paper.
20:09You can make America rake again.
20:13Not complicated.
20:14Simple executive order.
20:16And I know that, you know, may have a little fun with that,
20:22but this is a very serious executive order.
20:24And it lays out in detail what the President of the United States can do to support the people of this great state of California.
20:34If I may just go back to the questions about the legislation and the climate policy rollback,
20:39I just want to confirm what the Vice Chair,
20:43the California Energy Commission, said to you in terms of the recommendations of SBX-1-2.
20:49I mean, there's something in there about retaining domestic oil production in the state.
20:56I mean, are these things that you would be on board with, or are these things you are reviewing?
21:01We're reviewing.
21:02I directed him through an executive order to come back with me with a comprehensive letter.
21:07We created a task force that CIVA chaired.
21:10We've been meeting with refiners.
21:12We've been meeting with folks in the extraction industry, not just refiners.
21:18And we've been meeting with experts all across this country,
21:21and I've been advised with people around the globe.
21:25I drove here, happened to drive an electric car, but often in a car that uses fuel.
21:31I will be flying to Los Angeles tomorrow.
21:33I'm not naive about the imperative of a transition that's rational and addresses nature of change.
21:44And a lot has changed in the global markets, a lot of change in supply chains.
21:48A lot continues to change as it relates to the price of oil.
21:52Refineries all across the globe are struggling.
21:57You've seen national reports that reinforce these global trends.
22:03We're not immune from them.
22:04There's a large refiner in Texas, extraordinarily large, that went out of business.
22:10We've got some challenges, and so it just requires some new considerations.
22:17That's not rolling back anything.
22:19That's actually marching forward in a way that is thoughtful and considered.
22:24And that's what a just transition is all about.
22:28So SIVA laid out some alternative pathways for us to get there, and they're being reviewed in real time.
22:36There's an imperative to move on this.
22:39And we'll be making some recommendations and also working with legislative leaders,
22:43because there were some legislative requests that came from that letter, for their consideration as well.
22:48And so we're looking to brief the legislature in more detail,
22:53and we're looking to move very quickly on some of those recommendations.
22:57Last question.
23:02Going back to CalGuard, the AP reported yesterday that Mark Hawkins asked that 200 members need to turn to wildfire.
23:10Do you know anything about that?
23:11Well, Secretary Exit, our defense secretary, might take that recommendation
23:18and direct these young men and women back and get them back out here.
23:24So I'm hopeful.
23:25And you've been pretty part of that request?
23:27Well, we've been very vocal about that, not just part of it.
23:29We've been explicit in that request for the last few weeks.
23:34We couldn't be more clear in highlighting this issue.
23:36And so we've been very direct.
23:39And we've not just done that publicly.
23:41We've done that privately.
23:43We've done that through the chain of command.
23:45This is serious stuff.
23:48Have you got any response?
23:49Well, the response that you highlighted, that the AP highlighted,
23:53was the first indication that our requests are being considered.
23:59And we're looking forward to the formal announcement from the Department of Defense
24:05and from the Secretary of Defense.
24:07And we're hopeful that occurs imminently so we can get these folks back out there.
24:13And the same should be extended for those teachers that want to teach summer school.
24:18Same should be extended to those firefighters that want to go back and protect their communities at home.
24:25And those in law enforcement, sworn officers that were taken off the beaten streets,
24:31that should get back home as well, not just the rattlesnake teams.
24:35I mean, it's just the theater of the absurd.
24:37The whole thing is a theater of the absurd.
24:42And everybody knows that.
24:44Everybody knows that.
24:46And so it's time for grown-ups to do the right thing
24:52and send these men and women back and do so immediately.
24:59With that, I'm grateful.
25:01Thanks, everybody.