Fact Sheet No. 5: Range Management Advisory Committee

Authority

The Range Management Advisory Committee (RMAC) is a statutory committee (Public Resource Code 741) which advises the Board of Forestry on rangeland resources. It is the only standing committee in the State government that addresses range issues. RMAC is also mandated to provide information to the Resources Secretary.

Membership

Eleven people participate in this committee, each member serving a four year term. The Board of Forestry appoints the members from nominations submitted by the represented groups and the public. The committee is made up from the following representation:

• Two members from the California Cattlemen's Association
• Two members from the California Wool Grower's Association
• Two members from the California Farm Bureau Federation
• One member from the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts
• One member from the California Forestry Association
• One member from the Watershed Fire Council of Southern California
• Two members from the General Public (must have knowledge of range resource conservation)

The committee conducts open meetings four times per year in Sacramento or a field location.

Technical Consultation

Advisors from state and federal agencies provide current technical information to the committee on range and wildland related issues and assist them in recommending policy to the Board of Forestry and others.

Goals

RMAC's goal is to maintain rangeland productivity and enhance landowners' abilities to manage these lands.

Subcommittees

RMAC functions through the use of subcommittees appointed each year to work on specific issues pertaining to rangelands. Subcommittee recommendations are reviewed and acted upon by the full committee. RMAC then makes recommendations to the State Board of Forestry for furhter action or works with the appropriate agency to resolve issues. Subcommittees for 1996 are:

• Fire and Hardwood
• Water Quality
• Wildlife

Accomplishments

A major accomplishment was the approval of the California Rangeland Water Quality Management Plan by the State Water Resources control Board on July 20, 1995. This culminated over five years of development with cooperative efforts between RMAC, the livestock industry, state and federal agencies, and interest groups. An intensive educational and technical assistance program by the University of California Cooperative Extension and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service assisted in the plan's development.

RMAC was also involved with the implementation and monitoring of the Integrated Hardwood Range Management strategy, implementation of the Vegetation Management Program, zoning of rangelands, inheritance tax structure of rangelands, EPA's coastal zone management of nonpoint source pollution, and documentation of general rangeland health within California.

The Rangeland Management Advisory Committee hopes to continue its work in these areas, and to work with the range community to take a lead in providing input to the State and others in critical policy areas.

Future Challenges

Challenges now before RMAC include:

• The State Fire Plan and Fuel Hazard Reduction
• The implementation fo the California Water Quality Plan and watershed management
• Hardwood Range Ecosystem Management
• Improving the quality and protection of California's rangelands
• Developing strategy for manageing threated and endangered species

RMAC recognizes that environmental concerns must be addressed in a timely, cooperative fashion in order to minimize unnecessary and costly regulation. Land use questions will also require additional attention by the range community and input to policy makers. RMAC identified the following areas which are expected to have increasing impacts on range management options.

• Water quality
• Riparian area management
• Air quality
• Development impacts
• Land use decision making
• Hardwood range management
• Wildlife habitat conservation and management
• Threatened and endangered species

RMAC seeks proactive solutions to these challenges and the opportunity for the range community to take a lead on these issues as they relate to range resource use and management.

Rangeland Management Advisory Committee Contact

This fact sheet was revised June 1996.