How The Democratic Party in California Is Selling Out Nature

Those we once thought valued the natural world
are targeting all of wild California

If Senate BIll 1370 becomes law as currently written, it will codify one of the final pieces in the movement in California that views nature and wild through an anthropocentric lens. The paradigm justifies the clearance of habitat, the logging of forests, and the demonization of shrubland ecosystems through a well crafted, but false narrative. According to this narrative, based on models without data, magical thinking about Indigenous fire use, and confirmation bias, nature is seen as overgrown and in need of immediate mitigation. The vision is to create artificial landscapes pleasing to our needs – park-like forests, chaparral broken up into widely spaced clumps, expansive rangelands unencumbered by shrubs and trees, and the elimination of so-called “bad” fire – nature itself is seen as unnatural.

Yes, there are many who claim with an abundance of rhetoric that data or opinions contrary to this dream are false. Objective, scientific debate is often shut down with ad hominem characterizations, or worse. And the very idea of wilderness becomes diminished by revisionist history.

It is during such a time when the ability to question becomes even more crucial. During such a time is when laws created by more enlightened people are so important. During such a time is when the power of the individual needs protection. CEQA (the California Environmental Quality Act) was created for such a time.

It makes perfect sense why the governor wants to eliminate CEQA protections of the environment and why many are in favor of such action. Democracy can be so annoying.

The California Legislature have an opportunity to to say no to this nonsense, to support the environment, and to step away from the mob.

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SB 1370 Update

Although numerous amendments added to SB 1370 were able to reduce the environmental harm that will be caused by this law (it was passed by the California Legislature on August 31, 2026), it still helps to facilitate Governor Newsom’s long term vision of allowing Cal Fire, California State Parks, misguided non-profits, and the timber industry to eliminate as much wild Nature in California as they can get away with. Their goal is to replace wild with artificial, park-like landscapes through clearing, logging, and herbicide.

The problems with the new law include:

1. The public is shut out. There is no requirement for public hearings for covered individual projects or that public comment needs to be properly addressed as previously required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). In addition, there is no requirement to provide notice to local communities immediately surrounding the proposed treatment project. Since the public’s right to object to covered environmentally damaging projects has also been removed, it will be up to the Attorney General or District Attorney (at the request of governmental agencies and boards) to ensure projects do not cause environmental harm. We have already pointed out to the Attorney General (AG) numerous vegetation treatment projects that violate Cal Fire’s own Vegetation Treatment Program (VTP) – a document that is already deficient under CEQA. We have yet to see any willingness by the AG to intervene, let alone prosecute.

This “streamlining” process of project approval takes the environmental safety guardrails off Cal Fire and associated agencies, allowing serious mistakes to move forward without question. Such an approach has been responsible for many other industrial and land management disasters in our nation’s history.

2. Forests will take it on the chin. The law exempts clearing and logging projects up to 1,000 acres in forests from the environmental protections under CEQA.

3. The Board says so. Through the law’s emergency provisions, the Board of Forestry is being given nearly dictatorial power over the clearance of forest ecosystems. And a mentioned in #1 above, there won’t be much the public can do about it, which is Governor Newsom’s and the new law’s intent.

Statement by state environmental groups opposing SB 1370.