The proposed budget that Gov. Jerry Brown rolled out this week contains significant changes to California's environment, from closing some state parks to dropping a program that pays big landowners to keep their property undeveloped.
But perhaps none may prove to be more significant than Brown's recommendation for major changes to the way California battles wildfires.
His plan calls for reducing the number of firefighters on CalFire engine crews from four to three, putting them back to staffing levels that existed before massive wildfires charred the state in 2003. It also would shift to cities and counties a significant amount of firefighting responsibility that CalFire now oversees.