(a)
The director of the department shall establish a working group that consists of the following members:
(1)
Four representatives from either state or local government, or both.
(2)
Three representatives of industries with experience in state forestry and fire suppression policy.
(3)
Three representatives of environmental groups with experience in state forestry and fire suppression policy.
(4)
Two representatives with experience in state forestry and fire suppression policy from sectors of the public that are not otherwise represented in the working group.
(b)
The working group established pursuant to subdivision (a) shall do both of the following:
(1)
Identify potential incentives for landowners to implement prefire activities in state responsibility areas and urban wildland interface communities.
(2)
Identify all federal, state, or local programs, private programs, and any other programs requiring a cost share that involves prefire activities.
(c)
The department shall report the findings of the working group to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2004. The department shall include in the report any recommendations identified by the working group to provide potential incentives for consideration by the Legislature.
(d)
For the purposes of this section, the following terms mean:
(1)
“Prefire activities” means those lawful activities that reduce the risk of wildfire, including precommercial thinning, selective harvesting, shaded fuel breaks, brush treatments, grazing, and prescribed burns.
(2)
“Urban wildland interface community” means an area that is identified by the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of the Interior as an urban wildland interface community at high risk from wildfire and listed in the “List of fire threatened communities in California, Appendix A,” issued by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.