By Vanguard Staff
COLFAX, CA – In a sharp rebuke to federal wildfire management inaction, Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday called on President Trump to adopt a California-modeled executive order that would increase federal forest management efforts and bring them in line with the state’s aggressive wildfire prevention work. The challenge comes as California continues to pour billions into fire mitigation and treatment while the federal government retreats, despite owning more than half of the state’s forestland.
“California has done more than our fair share of ‘raking’ the forests,” said Governor Newsom during a press event at the Mt. Howell Fire Lookout in Placer County. “Now the federal government has to do its part to Make America Rake Again.”
Newsom’s proposal arrives amid deepening frustration over Trump administration policies that have undercut California’s fire prevention efforts. More than 57 percent of California forestland falls under federal jurisdiction, compared to just 3 percent under state control. Despite that disparity, federal agencies have faced staffing cuts and dwindling budgets even as wildfire risks escalate.
The Governor’s model executive order, submitted to the White House, would compel the federal government to match California’s level of investment, staffing, and innovation in wildfire mitigation. If adopted, the order would direct federal agencies to expand prescribed burns, increase forest thinning operations, and invest in workforce expansion to combat the growing threat of catastrophic fire.
Newsom’s criticism also targeted what he called President Trump’s “illegal federalization” of California National Guard troops, which has severely diminished firefighting personnel in the state. Task Force Rattlesnake—made up of over 300 CalGuard members assigned to assist CAL FIRE—has seen its numbers cut by more than half due to the federal mobilization of Guard members to Los Angeles. Only 40 percent of its crews remain available for wildfire response.
“Instead of supporting California’s efforts, the President is undermining them,” Newsom said. “We’re facing down another intense fire season with fewer federal firefighters and fewer resources because of decisions made in Washington.”
California’s state-led efforts continue to ramp up despite federal inaction. Since 2020, the state has committed more than $2.5 billion to wildfire prevention and resilience. Another $1.5 billion is expected from the 2024 Climate Bond. This investment has helped CAL FIRE nearly double its staffing compared to the previous administration, hiring an average of 1,800 full-time and 600 seasonal firefighters annually. Thousands more are expected to be hired in coming years.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Forest Service has suffered a 10 percent reduction in total staffing and a 25 percent reduction in non-wildfire response roles—cutbacks that experts warn could further hamper federal response capacity.
The 2020 joint agreement between California and the U.S. Forest Service aimed to treat one million acres annually, split evenly between state and federal agencies. That collaboration has borne fruit: in 2023 alone, over 700,000 acres were treated, and prescribed fire prevention usage has doubled since 2021. California alone has invested more than $350 million in federal land projects since Newsom took office.
Despite these gains, the Governor warned that California cannot solve the wildfire crisis alone.
“In this hotter, drier climate, wildfires are more dangerous and more frequent. We need a full partnership—not abandonment,” said Newsom. “We’re holding up our end of the deal. It’s time for Washington to do the same.”
The Governor’s office highlighted a number of recent milestones underscoring the state’s progress:
California treated over 51,000 acres with prescribed burns and forest thinning last year, exceeding its target for the first time ever. In recent months, the state approved 24 new vegetation management projects across nearly 8,500 acres, backed by a $135 million investment in wildfire prevention and an additional $72 million in disbursed grants.
To meet the rising threat from wildfires, California has also streamlined regulatory processes through emergency proclamations and fast-tracking initiatives. The state has significantly expanded the world’s largest aerial firefighting fleet, including the recent deployment of its second C-130 Hercules airtanker and a surge in AI-powered and drone-assisted fire detection.
Since 2020, California and its partners have completed or initiated more than 2,200 landscape and fire prevention projects and treated nearly 1.9 million acres. The Governor’s Interagency Treatment Dashboard, launched in 2023, offers transparent tracking of this work across state, federal, local, and private lands.
The state has also strengthened community protections. Since 2019, CAL FIRE has awarded $450 million to over 450 wildfire prevention projects and conducts more than 250,000 defensible space inspections each year. The Governor recently signed an executive order to expand home hardening and neighborhood resilience measures across fire-prone areas.
In Colfax, where Newsom launched his first full day as Governor in 2019 by spotlighting federal inaction, he doubled down on his message to Trump.
“We’re not asking for favors,” Newsom said. “We’re demanding that the federal government fulfill its responsibility to the people of California. This is about safety, this is about science, and this is about doing the hard work to protect American communities.”
The Governor’s full wildfire resilience accomplishments and data are available on the state’s public dashboard.
No way. I coined the exact same phrase last week. I intend to get a green hat made – but my intent was different, it was to pressure Davis Council to get moving on the gas-powered leaf-blower ban.
This is so Newsom. It was Trump who brought up California’s wildlife failure and California’s failures back in his first term. And just like Newsom did with homelessness – after his atrocious failures as mayor that nearly ruined San Francisco, he picks up the torch aimed at him and goes, “Oh, look at the terrible homeless problem, we have to fix this and I’m going to do it!” Newsom is a master of picking up his own feces and painting them gold. And now he’s doing it with wildfire prevention – he’s like trying to out trump Trump in his salivation towards the Top Chair. This snake-oil disingenuousness is why I DESPISE and LOATHE this man beyond just about any other politician.
I agree – I don’t like the guy, for the reasons you state.
David himself recently labeled Newsom as an “opportunist” – which sums it up pretty well.
He’s no Jerry Brown, whom I actually do respect. Pretty sure I would have assumed that The French Laundry was a place to get your clothes cleaned, if Brown was in office this entire time.
There’s a difference between policy disagreement, vs. self-interested aggrandizement. And I never found Brown to engage in the latter.
Also unlike Brown – Newsom doesn’t practice what he preaches, in regard to where and how he lives.
Newsom strikes me as rather “privileged”.
Not a fan of Newsom, but they seem to have hired a new comm person who makes for some interesting copy.
Rare moment where ACM,DG,RO agree on something, if from different directions.
Newsom is very clever; hopefully too clever for his own good. I do hope the rest of the country agrees in three years, especially the Dems in the primaries, lest we end up with an another impossible choice between two horrible candidates.
I don’t think we’re actually coming at it from different directions, since it’s not a policy issue.
Personally, I have respect for those who actually believe in what they say – separate from their own ambitions (even if it’s different from “my” view).
In some ways, Trump is actually more “honest” than Newsom. (So is someone like Jerry Brown, Robb Davis, . . .)
Yeap – I’m actually lumping-together Robb Davis and Trump, in this manner at least. (Not in a bad way. But I’m *sure* that both of them would appreciate that, assuming that they knew or cared about that comparison.)
Dave Chapelle referred to Trump as an “honest liar” (something like that).
“Dave Chapelle referred to Trump as an “honest liar” (something like that).”
That could be the single best description of Trump I have ever heard.
Calling on Trump to ‘Make America Rake Again’ makes for a catchy tagline, but doesn’t fully capture what wildfire prevention – or rather, community protection from the effects of wildfire – needs to look like in California. Compelling the federal government to expand prescribed burns, increase forest thinning operations, and invest in workforce expansion (presumably in both logging and firefighting) in the 57% of California forestland that falls under federal jurisdiction is perhaps not the best use of federal funds. Wildfire is a reality in California, and especially as the climate warms, state and federal mitigation strategies should include funding that focuses on the “hardening” of communities against wildfire. Newsom’s use of the word “rake” – invoking Trump’s simultaneously insulting and baffling suggestion that California should rake their forests as Finland does – is just as harmful as Trump’s assertion that “cleaning” forest floors is the holy grail of wildfire prevention. (Former president of Finland Sauli Niinistö, who Trump referenced as “telling” him that Finns rake their forests and in doing so prevent wildfire, expressed in an interview with French newspaper Ilta-Sanomat that in fact he did not recall using the word “rake” in conversation with Trump, and had simply expressed that Finland is a forest nation with robust forest surveillance and management, which was useful during the anomaly of the 2018 Arctic wildfires. And no, this management does not include rakes.) I say Newsom’s use of this tagline (and the implications it holds for state-managed and federally-managed California forests) is just as harmful because it furthers the assumption that techniques such as prescribed burns and aggressive forest thinning should be our best-funded line of defense next to firefighting, when in reality, these techniques are often lackluster (at best) and can actually worsen the effects of wildfire (at worst). Ultimately, it’s a strong idea to call on the federal government for assistance with wildfire prevention and recovery (especially at a time like this, with the Trump Administration not only withholding wildfire-related funds from California but also decimating disaster response agencies like FEMA). But the way these funds are used, and the way our forests in California are managed, whether state- or federally-owned, needs to change. And to protect not only our lands but also our communities in California, we need to focus on hardening communities to be more resistant to urban fires initiated by wildfires. Yes, the Trump Administration’s attitude toward forest management, and in particular wildfires in California and the Western states, leaves much to be desired. But so does Newsom’s allocation of funds to particular kinds of forest management and wildfire prevention (such as aggressive forest thinning and overuse of prescribed burns) and not to others (such as community resistance to wildfire, only a small part of Newsom’s campaign against wildfire harm). We need change!
For more information, see sources such as:
–This study from the University of Montana, which finds that “attempting to suppress all wildfires results in fires burning with more severe ecological impacts, with accelerated increases in burned area beyond those expected from fuel accumulation or climate change”: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240325113210.htm
–This publication from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), which distinguishes between wildfires and urban fires initiated by wildfires, noting that to address the vulnerability of communities and structures is to more effectively address some of the devastating impacts of wildfire: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2315797120
–This publication from the Union of Concerned Scientists, which quantifies the impact of the fossil fuel industry on wildfire risk and directly links heat-trapping emissions to worsening fires: https://www.ucs.org/resources/fossil-fuels-behind-forest-fires#top
–And this publication from Headwater Economics, which identifies both building materials and costs associated with “hardening” structures against wildfire, which, as described by the above sources, are worsening despite present state and federal mitigation strategies: https://headwaterseconomics.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Wildfire_Retrofit_Report_20240624.pdf
(These sources are in part what have helped to inform my opinions about forest management/community resilience in the face of wildfire.)