Forestry issues in California are wide-spread, complex, and continually changing. From the state to the local level, the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts (CARCD) participates in identifying and creating solutions to these issues.

The State of California and many Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs) have active forestry programs focused on assisting forest landowners to better manage their forest, watershed and wildlife resources. To increase efficiency and reduce redundancy, the CARCD Forestry Committee and the Statewide Forest Stewardship Coordinating Committee joined together in May 2020 as one committee managed by CARCD. In 2021, the California Wildfire & Forest Resilience Task Force (Task Force) created the Private Landowner Assistance (PLO) Working Group. Due to overlap in purpose, the Joint Forestry Committee and PLO Working Group combined to create the Private Forestlands Committee. The Private Forestlands Committee serves as an advisory body to the Task Force, CARCD and California's Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs), California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to address statewide forestry issues and opportunities, with an emphasis on issues relating to non-industrial private forest lands.

The Committee’s mission is to provide expertise, advice and support to conserve, restore and sustain the health, diversity and productivity of California’s forested landscapes.

Mission and Charter

The mission of the Private Forestlands Committee (PFC) is to provide expertise, advice and support to conserve, restore and sustain the health, diversity and productivity of California’s forested landscapes, with an emphasis of advocating for private non-industrial forest lands and those who work with them. The PFC also serves as a subset of CA’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force.

See here for the PFC charter

History

The CARCD board of directors has sponsored a forestry committee for several decades to provide expertise, advice and support to private landowners and partners. Formerly known as the CARCD Forestry Committee, its name was updated to the Joint CARCD Forestry and Forest Stewardship Coordinating Committee since it also served as the lead for the California State Forest Stewardship Coordinating Committee (FSCC). The FSCC was established by the federal Forest Stewardship Act of 1990 (16 USC 2113), which amended the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978, and requires states to form a committee to ensure a coordinated and cooperative federal, state and local forest program for the management and enhancement of forest lands, among other purposes. At the request of the State Forester, this unique partnership between CARCD and CAL FIRE was established in January 1998 to reduce duplicative efforts and gain efficiencies.

The Private Landowner Work Group (PLO Work Group), was established in 2021 by California’s Forest and Fire Resilience Task Force to support non-industrial private forest lands. This created overlap with the existing Joint Forestry Committee, and the two groups struggled to differentiate their purposes. As the PLO Work Group increasingly took on advocacy efforts for private forest lands—previously a key focus of the Joint Forestry Committee—the need for greater alignment became evident. In response, and at the request of CARCD and CAL FIRE, the groups have formally merged in 2025 under a new name: the Private Forestlands Committee (formerly the Joint Forestry Committee and Private Landowner Work Group).