LOS ANGELES () Nearly two months since the start of the California wildfires, Gov. Gavin Newsom is suspending some landmark environmental laws to expedite prevention efforts.

This follows President Donald Trump’s harsh criticism of the state’s wildfire management and comes as the housing market sees surging demand for land destroyed by the fires.

Newsom: ‘Rebuilding with resiliency’ 

The suspension of environmental laws, including California’s Environmental Quality Act and Coastal Act, allows for rebuilding without time-consuming analysis or mitigation work.

Newsom’s state of emergency will fast-track vegetation and tree removal to prevent further destruction.

The decision comes as authorities issue widespread warnings to avoid the waters from Malibu to Santa Monica due to toxic conditions and fire debris. Waves of ash debris have been accumulating for weeks since the fires.

In announcing the suspension of the environmental acts, Newsom emphasized a push to rebuild smarter.

“It’s very limited in scope in its focus with a high level of energy and commitment to rebuilding smarter, rebuilding with resiliency and climate and science in mind, rebuilding with redundancy, rebuilding with a much more aggressive posture to address the inevitability that there are going to be large scale fires in and around the region into the future,” Newsom said.

Controlled burns and the creation of more fuel breaks will be part of the new forest management strategy, though critics have repeatedly noted that more than half of California’s forests are federal land. With recent Department of Government Efficiency cuts, it has seen reduced oversight from federal employees.

In addition, Newsom is requesting $40 billion in federal aid for fire recovery in Los Angeles.

How are residents rebuilding?

As for recovering and rebuilding, the Wall Street Journal reports that more than 80 decimated land plots in the Palisades and Altadena have been listed for sale since mid-February.

These properties are priced similarly to their pre-fire values, with small and mid-sized real estate investors and developers as the main buyers.

While these early sales suggest some residents may be leaving, they also show that the areas remain desirable, with potential for rising property values over time.