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Office of Natural Resource Management

Lisa Worthington, Office Chief

 

The Caltrans Office of Natural Resource Management (ONRM) –HQ and District positions– within the Division of Maintenance, is a full-time program dedicated to natural resource management through a strategic 5-year planning efforts with flexibility to optimize contracts and field crews to emphasize safety and evolving climate stressors, such as wildfires.  Caltrans is a responsible public landowner integrated at the watershed and regional scale with other local, state, federal, and tribal organizations combining strategic priorities to manage natural vegetation to support resilient natural resources, to prevent damage to roads, interference with visibility, and maintain clearance along emergency evacuation routes.  Additional critical program responsibilities include overseeing training, policy and guidance for hundreds of special Field Crews (Landscape with Irrigation, Trees, naturally-occurring Vegetation and use of Pesticides to manage noxious and invasive weeds and plants); leading GIS analysis, mapping and online applications for the Division of Maintenance, leading Environmental Stewardship and CEQA/NEPA compliance for the Division of Maintenance; and overseeing maintenance of over 600 public facilities, including Safety Roadside Rest Areas, Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Facilities, Park and Ride Lots, Vista Points and Agricultural Inspection Stations. 

 

ONRM Programs:

 

Vegetation Management Program Policy, Planning and Implementation

The Vegetation Management Program (VMP), supported by approximately 150 professional staff and 2,000 field personnel, contractors, and interagency partners, manages natural vegetation along 31,000 acres of improved roadside and 168,000 acres of unimproved land within the State Highway System. The program's mission is to support safe transportation corridors and climate-resilient landscapes. Through science-based methodologies and treatment objectives, the VMP guides both project development and maintenance activities, while establishing site-specific vegetation management prescriptions in coordination with other roadside land managers.

 

The 2026-2031 California Wildfire and Landscape Resilience Plan identifies Caltrans as a key leader among public road managers in advancing wildfire resilience. The plan highlights the importance of creating and maintaining strategic fuel breaks, thinning trees and dense brushes to improve visibility and forest health and managing non-native or overly dense vegetation adjacent to roadways to enhance public safety during evacuations and emergency response operations.

 

To support these objectives, Caltrans is advancing collaborative, cross-boundary vegetation management projects that leverage public and private funding sources to implement large-scale fuel reduction treatments ranging from 10 to 100 feet in width along state highways. One example is the Southern California Ignition Reduction Program (SCIRP), which operates under a 10-year charter framework to guide wildfire resilience investments and project implementation throughout Southern California covering roughly 14,000 square miles (8.8% roughly 9.1 million acres). Caltrans is also partnering with the North Coast Resource Partnership to identify and advance vegetation management opportunities across the North Coast region, which encompasses approximately 19,000 square miles (12% roughly 12.2 million acres) of California's landscape, including extensive natural and Tribal lands.

 

Caltrans Vegetation Management Program Objectives:

  1. Protect life, property, infrastructure, natural and cultural resources through active corridor level VMP planning with internal/external partners in 5-year cycles.
  2. Reduce the potential for fire spread from human-caused sources, including vehicle-induced ignitions and maintenance field crews, along the SHS by optimizing VMP work force to focus on priority corridors.
  3. Provide defensible space along the State Highway System (Zone H) to protect the effectiveness of the traveled way during normal operations and emergency response during a wildfire event.
  4. Manage vegetation to improve resilience, safety, and ecosystem function. Ensure routine maintenance activities are documented and projects by contractors are CEQA/NEPA compliant.
  5. Utilize modern technology and peer-reviewed scientific data in decision making.
  6. Maintain our Caltrans safety goal when inspecting and maintaining trees; support tree pruning and removal to improve scenic highway quality.

 

Field Operations and Outreach

The Field Operations and Outreach Program is dedicated to the protection, conservation, and management of California's vegetation on the roadsides within the Caltrans right of way. The branch works to ensure the safe and efficient management of resources, while preserving the quality of the environment, with a focus on Maintenance Field staff needs.

 

Field crews account for about 135,000 acres of planned, routine maintenance activities along road edges, managing grasslands; brush, scrub and chapparal habitat; invasive weeds; forestlands and oak woodlands; and planted landscape improvements for beautification, environmental stewardship of habitat, and operational safety.

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Environmental Stewardship and Management

The Environmental Stewardship and Management Program supports the Caltrans Division of Maintenance in achieving environmental compliance by ensuring that VMP projects adhere to applicable environmental laws, regulations, policies, and directives. The program provides environmental planning, permitting, and compliance support for vegetation management activities throughout the State Highway System.

 

As part of this effort, the program is developing an addendum to the 1992 Caltrans Vegetation Control Program Programmatic Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) to update program descriptions, incorporate current best management practices, and modernize mitigation measures for maintenance activities. In addition, the program is advancing a regional project planning and permitting framework that would facilitate adoption of the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Supplemental PEIR to the 2019 California Vegetation Treatment Program Environmental Impact Report (CalVTP PEIR), helping streamline environmental review while supporting the efficient implementation of vegetation management and wildfire resilience projects across the state.

 

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GIS Services

The GIS Services Program represents Caltrans Division of Maintenance in GIS technologies to uphold Caltrans strategic goals. The program responds to requests from division offices, additional HQ divisions, districts, and external agencies. These requests often consist of but are not limited to clean/validate tabular & spatial data, develop GIS databases, plot location data, map & develop web-based GIS products, analyze and uncover patterns in data, provide situational awareness, provide technical guidance, support department and state emergency operations, and develop tools for non-technical users.

 

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PROJECTS: Wildfire Adaptation Program – Fuel Reduction Contracts and Performance

The Wildfire Adaptation Fuel Reduction Contracts Program has awarded service contracts that will deliver approximately 20,000 acres of additional vegetation management, extending defensible-space thinning to the state highway right-of-way boundary and enhancing fuel reduction effectiveness across 3,070 centerline miles of the State Highway System. On March 1, 2025, Governor Newsom issued an Emergency Proclamation directing all state agencies to “Fast-Track Critical Fuel Reduction Projects.” In response, Caltrans programmed seven (7) fuel reduction projects covering approximately 9,000 acres to support the objectives of the proclamation. These objectives included the “removal of hazardous, dead and/or dying trees; the removal of vegetation along roadways for the creation of safer ingress and egress routes for the public and responders; and the management of vegetation to reduce roadside ignitions”.

 

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District Vegetation Management Plans

The District Vegetation Management Plans Program operates on a 5-year planning framework and is designed to address evolving climate stressors. Collectively, the District Vegetation Management Plans have identified 3,806 centerline miles for priority fuel reduction over the next five years.

 

Water Management and Irrigation Systems Program

The Water Management and Irrigation Systems Program focuses on the efficient use of potable and recycled water for highway irrigation. The program develops drought action plans, conducts water audits, provides training to maintenance crews, participates in the design development process and utilizes smart controllers to manage water use along state highways. Caltrans is active in the Drought Resilience Interagency and Partners (DRIP) Collaborative, created in coordination with the State Water Board for pre-drought planning, emergency response and post-drought management, consistent with Senate Bill 552 (Chaptered in 2021).

 

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HM-2 Roadside Program

The HM-2 Roadside Program provides funding for work related to the preservation of roadside elements to maintain and protect the overall integrity of the adjacent properties and the environment. The program funds up to $2.5 million for Minor maintenance projects involving roadside related activities in the C (Roadside), E (Landscape), and G (Public Facilities) families. All project estimates must be within the Minor B limit of $484,000.00. These contracts are specific items of concern for maintenance, need immediate attention, create additional maintenance and/or exposure, and cannot be covered on a major State Highway Operation and Protection Program (SHOPP) project. Project nominations are submitted each Fall to ONRM for review and approval. Projects are approved in the Asset Management Tool and then placed in the annual Contract for Delivery list by Office of Major Maintenance Support.  The completed projects will constitute the HM performance achievements documented by HQ Asset Management in the yearly Benchmark report.

 

Public Facilities

The Public Facilities Program manages and maintains 86 Safety Roadside Rest Areas (SRRA), 135 Vista Points, Park and Ride Lots, and 56 Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Facilities (CVEF) throughout the state. Maintenance at these Public facilities is facilitated by the HM-2 Program, Interagency Agreements, and Service Contracts managed by the GIS, HM-2, Public Facilities Branch. These contracts include California Highway Patrol CVEF interagency agreement, Department of Rehabilitation SRRA Vending interagency agreement, Department of Food and Agriculture – Border Protection Stations interagency agreement, and Lincoln Training Center – CVEF Grounds Maintenance service contract. ONRM coordinates contract maintenance and repairs with District Region Managers, Maintenance Engineers, and field staff.

 

California Conservation Corp (CCC)

The California Conservation Corp (CCC) Program is an interagency agreement allowing CCC to perform landscape maintenance, vegetation control, and other roadside duties on an on-call, as-need, and service request basis throughout each District. ONRM manages the interagency agreement and processes invoicing from CCC. District CCC coordinators request projects and services through their local CCC Training Center. The current agreement amount is $4.5 million.

 

Budgets, Operations and Resource Management

The Budgets, Operations and Resource Management Program is responsible for the complex office budget, including forecasting and budget optimization and invoice management for multiple programs including HM-2, Fuel Reduction Service Contracts, Water Conservation efforts, Public Facilities, and other program areas; assists the Office Chief with hiring, on-boarding and resource management of office staff.

 

      Recognitions

  • October 2026 - Caltrans VMP and USFS Region 5 will be recognized at the USDA/USFS Headquarters with a prestigious ‘Wildfire Readiness and Response’ national achievement award from USDA/USFS Chief Tom Schultz for planning wildfire ignition reduction projects to reduce wildfire hazard from roadside and human-caused ignitions within a region of 22 million people in Southern California, nearly 60% of the state’s population.