California: Governor Newsom challenges President Trump to adopt model executive order to help 'Make America Rake Again'

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Jul 1, 2025

Governor Newsom challenges President Trump to adopt model executive order to help 'Make America Rake Again'

What you need to know: California has invested billions of dollars to fight fires and treated millions of acres to reduce wildfire risk, while the Trump administration continues to cut resources and neglect its responsibility to manage the 57% of the state's forestland under federal control. Governor Newsom today provided the White House a model executive order that would allow the federal government to match California's firefighting efforts and fulfill its obligations.

COLFAX – Governor Gavin Newsom today urged President Trump to follow California's lead and step up the federal government's management of its forestlands in California to help protect communities from catastrophic wildfire. Over half of the forests in California – 57% – are owned by the federal government, compared to the state's 3%.

The Governor sent a model executive order to the White House for the President to issue to help the federal government match California's efforts and better manage its forestlands. The order – if signed by the President – would direct the federal government to increase its forest management capabilities and investments to match the most advanced state and local government efforts, like California's historic investments.

"It's time for Trump to put his money where his mouth is. California has done more than our fair share of 'raking' the forests, now the federal government has to do its part to Make America Rake Again. We've invested billions of dollars and treated millions of acres  – more than doubling our state investment from when I took office. We're doing all we can to protect communities from catastrophic wildfire, will President Trump?"

Governor Gavin Newsom

Task Force Rattlesnake is made up of over 300 California National Guard (CalGuard) members, who work at the direction of CAL FIRE to help fight and prevent fires. More than half of that team has been diverted to Los Angeles as part of President Trump's illegal federalization of the Guard – leaving only 40% of CalGuard crews available for firefighting.

Thanks to recent historic investments, CAL FIRE has been able to step up with robust resources to protect communities but Task Force Rattlesnake's understaffing and recent federal cuts create unnecessary strain.

The National Guard impact is on top of the Trump administration's dangerous cuts to the U.S. Forest Service, which also threatens the safety of communities across the state. The U.S. Forest Service has lost 10% of all positions and 25% of positions outside of direct wildfire response – both of which are likely to impact wildfire response this year.

During President Trump's first administration, California and the U.S. Forest Service established a joint commitment to treat one million acres of land to reduce wildfire risks starting in 2025  – 500,000 acres by federal agencies and 500,000 acres by state agencies. That partnership has increased treatments to more than 700,000 acres annually in the 2023 calendar year, including a doubling in acres treated with prescribed fire since 2021. Since the Governor took office, California agencies have invested more than $350 million in projects on federal lands.

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California's unprecedented wildfire readiness

Despite the President's dangerous recklessness, the state stands ready to protect communities. As part of the state's ongoing investment in wildfire resilience and emergency response, CAL FIRE has significantly expanded its workforce over the past five years by adding an average of 1,800 full-time and 600 seasonal positions annually – nearly double that from the previous administration. Over the next four years and beyond, CAL FIRE will be hiring thousands of additional firefighters, natural resource professionals, and support personnel to meet the state's growing demands.

For the first time ever, the state recently met and exceeded its 50,000-acre goal for beneficial fire – treating 51,286 acres with prescribed fire in the last year.

In recent months, the Governor has announced millions of dollars in investments to protect communities from wildfire – with $135 million available for new and ongoing prevention projects and $72 million going out the door to projects across the state. Additionally, 24 new vegetation management projects spanning nearly 8,500 acres have already been approved for fast-tracking under the Governor's new streamlining initiative.

This builds on consecutive years of intensive and focused work by California to confront the severe ongoing risk of catastrophic wildfires, and Governor Newsom's emergency proclamation signed in March to fast-track forest and vegetation management projects throughout the state. Additionally, to bolster the state's ability to respond to fires, Governor Newsom recently announced that the state's second C-130 Hercules airtanker is ready for firefighting operations, adding to the largest aerial firefighting fleet in the world.

New, bold moves to streamline state-level regulatory processes builds long-term efforts already underway in California to increase wildfire response and forest management in the face of a hotter, drier climate. A full list of California's progress on wildfire resilience is available here.

Highlights of achievements to date include:

• Historic investments — Overall, the state has more than doubled investments in wildfire prevention and landscape resilience efforts, providing more than $2.5 billion in wildfire resilience since 2020, with an additional $1.5 billion to be allocated from the 2024 Climate Bond.
• On-the-ground progress — More than 2,200 landscape health and fire prevention projects are complete or underway, and from 2021-2023, the State and its partners treated nearly 1.9 million acres, including nearly 730,000 acres in 2023.
• Increasing transparency — The Governor's Task Force launched an Interagency Treatment Dashboard to display wildfire resilience work across federal, state, local, and privately managed lands across the State. The Dashboard, launched in 2023, provides transparency, tracks progress, facilitates planning, and informs firefighting efforts.
• Hardening communities — Adding to California's nation-leading fire safety  standards, Governor Newsom signed an executive order to further improve community hardening and wildfire mitigation strategies to neighborhood resilience statewide. Since 2019, CAL FIRE has awarded more than $450 million for 450 wildfire prevention projects across the state and conducts Defensible Space Inspections on more than 250,000 homes each year.
• Leveraging cutting-edge technology — On top of expanding the world's largest aerial firefighting fleet, CAL FIRE has doubled its use of Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) and the state is utilizing AI-powered tools to spot fires quicker.

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